Snow Quest
by Numbuh 94
Summary: How did Chill become an ice guardian, and so... well... cold? Minor spin-off of Skylanders: Rise of the Dragon King, but can be read without knowing anything about it. UPDATE: Now rated T due to planned chapters.
1. Dreams

_**Snow Quest**_

"Chill! I'm leaving now, you be good, okay?"

Chill looked up from her picture and nodded. "Right, mom! See you later!" She called. She hummed to herself, turning back to her sketchpad.

She was lying on her bed in her room. It was a colorful room, to say the least. The walls were painted in every color you could think of, and had many painted pictures everywhere. There were only a few spots left untouched on the wall, which stood out like a sore thumb due to being pure, snow white.

Her bed had a white footboard and headboard, with white railings. The blankets were ice-blue, and had pale violet lining. Chill was wearing her night clothes still, which were purple and blue. Her shirt was lavender-colored with sea-blue lining and so were her pants. Her hair was blonde, and some fell over her eyes. It was a bit too long, and in a while, it would need to be cut.

Her mother had just left to go to the castle that was only a block away. Chill was used to being alone by now, as her mother had to go there, and worked to guard the snow queen. Chill often daydreamed about how the snow queen actually looked… She never came out of her castle, and when she did, she was protected by hordes of Thaumaturges.

Chill continued to hum loudly, turning her icy blue eyes back to her picture. It was yet another one of what she thought the snow queen might look like. It showed a woman with ocean-blue hair and bright, silver-aqua eyes. Her face was slightly off center, and her thumbs were on the wrong side of her hands, but Chill did not notice. Being eight, who would?

She smiled and clapped her hands together. "Yes! Anot'er good one! Maybe I should color it… Nope, it looks good just t'e way it is!" She exclaimed happily. She took the picture and looked for a dull-looking place on her wall. Though it wasn't colored, she wouldn't mind covering up one of those plain spots with it.

The room was rectangular, with a pale blue desk and dresser filling it. There was no television or electronics, except for a radio Chill often used to listen to her favorite music. Sometimes, it could pick up channels from Earth! The songs those 'humans' sing are so weird!

She hummed louder to the beat of some song she couldn't quite remember the name of as she taped the picture to her wall. To a professional, the portrait would have looked insulting to the snow queen. But to Chill, she didn't care. It was way better than many of the pictures she had!

She skipped back over to her dresser, looking through it. "Hm… I've still got some of t'ose books to read about t'at dragon Spyro…" She cocked her head to the side. Spyro was the main character of some of her favorite fantasy novels. Little did she know then, these novels may have been sold as fiction, but were based off a real dragon.

Spyro was a rare purple dragon with golden-orange horns, as well as a ridge of orange spines that went down his back. His claws were yellow and his underbelly had orange on it too. His brother was a dragonfly called 'Sparx', and the two were always teasing one another.

The next one was 'A Hero's Tail', and it was supposedly about a new dragon named 'Red' who put life-draining gems all over the Dragon Realms. Chill pulled it out and stared at the cover. It was a LOT more eye-catching than the last books about Spyro she had read—in fact, it showed a close up shot of Spyro's face in the background, with three characters she had never seen before in front of it.

One was a cheetah wielding a bow and arrow. The other was a penguin with a rocket-like gadget on his back, smiling and saluting. The third was a mole-looking guy with a miner's helmet on. In the top left corner, it had 'SPYRO THE DRAGON: A HERO'S TAIL" it big, bold orange and purple letters. Sparx was flying beneath the letters, waving his hand.

Just as Chill prepared to open it, she heard something shatter. She threw the book onto her bed and charged into the living room, looking around. "Home already, Mom? But you have to guard t'e ice queen—who are you?" Chill stopped when she saw a cat-like creature stumbling around in the living room, the front door's glass shattered all over the ground. Chill smiled at it. _Wonder if she wants to be friends?_ She wondered to herself.

"What are you, daft? Beat it, kid, this is a raid!" The catlike creature had large, pointed ears with tufts of fur on the end. Its eyes were bright green, and it had brown fur with large, black spots all over its body. It wore tattered, dirty, brown clothes and gloves with claws sticking out the end.

_A raid? _Chill remembered her mother telling her something about an old raid on the ice kingdom where the snow queen was nearly lost… The town had been devastated, with buildings destroyed, food supplies extremely low, and had been the target for most robberies and other petty thefts for days due to the weakness of the city. Chill narrowed her eyes and spoke with a suddenly hardened voice. "Get out of my house!" She shouted, balling her fists. This guy was NOT going to raid HER house!

The cat creature scoffed. "Yeah, right," he rolled his eyes and walked toward her. Chill gaped at him. Was he really going to not listen to _her?_

She dashed into the kitchen and looked around the white-walled kitchen and chrome-plated appliances. The house was kept at a temperature of twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit due to the fact that a Thaumaturge's regular body temperature was twenty-eight degrees Fahrenheit. She grinned when she saw the ice javelins lying on the table. She grabbed them and returned to the living room. Ooh, it was just like a game! It was just like the time when she and her friend Celsius had been playing Drow 'N' Arrow!

She aimed the javelin at him and gritted her teeth, narrowing her eyes. "Get out of my house or I'll… I'll… hurt you! Yeah...!" She shot at the cat creature.

He glared at her. "You are quite the annoyin' little pest, ain't ya?" He stomped over towards her, raising his upper arm. His claws caught the lighting of the room and glinted. Chill felt fear strike her, but she lashed out, slashing his shoulder with the javelin. A large cut appeared there and blood welled in the wound.

"Chill?" Chill heard her mom call her frantically. Chill smiled from the door that led to the kitchen, and pointed with the javelin at the dazed cat creature. Chill's mother gasped, her dark navy blue eyes widening in fear. She grabbed the cat creature and spun him around, throwing him against the wall.

He sputtered as he got back up, his eyes rolling dazedly. Chill's mother jumped on top of him, throwing him to the ground. She brandished her own ice javelin and put it to his throat. "Ever go near my child again, and I'll slit your t'roat!" She snarled.

"R-right!" Chill's mom kicked him as she let him go and he darted out the door, stumbling over his own feet. Chill looked outside and awed at the battle going on.

Cat creatures were everywhere! So were the Thaumaturges! They were all battling one another, and the Thaumaturges were winning! In the background, she could see the ice castle surrounded with an ice wall (conjured by the snow queen herself, according to what her mother told her). In front of every house, a Thuamaturge of some colored armor was guarding and attacking another cat creature.

A male Thaumaturge with bright gold and white armor put an ice sword in another cat creature's face, snarling, "GET OUT OF OUR KINGDOM!"

"Ice-hearted Thaumaturges!" The cat creature spat. But it turned around and ran off. Chill's eyes continued to widen as she saw others fight. 'Ice-heart' was often used by other species to insult Thaumaturges, due to their rather merciless style of battle and overall cold personalities.

Another Thaumaturge with ocean-blue armor was battling a snow-white cat creature with silver spots. Chill cheered on the Thaumaturge upon recognizing he was her dad, Ryan, wielding an ice spear and shield.

Chill just stood there and stared. "Amazing!" She exclaimed, feeling excitement rouse her. Wow! If this was how it was to be a warrior, she had to be one! To guard the kingdom, fight off foes, gain honor from your friends and family… What if somebody felt like this about her someday?

Her dad pinned the white cat to the ground and stabbed the ground close to its face. "Get out or we'll kill you all!" He threatened icily.

"No problem, ice-heart!" The cat creature jumped to its feet and ran. Chill shot taunts after them as she saw them run by.

"Cowards! Yeah, you better run! Or my dad'll beat you up more! And you bet we're ice-hearts!" She called after them, dropping her own javelin to the ground. She dashed out of the door, her mother not managing to grab her in time. She tackle-hugged her father to the ground.

"Oh—geez, Chill!" He got up and pushed her back a little. "You shouldn't be out here! It's dangerous, you know."

"But you guys beat them all," Chill beamed, fluttering her eyelids. It was true; there were no more cat creatures in sight, just riled up and excited ice warriors. Chill hugged her dad again. "You were great! Amazing!"

Her dad hugged her back. "Yes, well, we are specially trained. You like t'is, do you?" He asked her.

"Of course!" Chill jumped back, her blue eyes gleaming. "It's AMAZING!" She ran into the living room, faster than a rocket, and came back out, brandishing the ice javelin she had gotten from the kitchen. She did a flip and a cartwheel. During the flip, she spun the javelin in her hand, and threw it while she did the cartwheel, catching it once she was done. "See?!"

Her mother and father both looked very impressed. "That was great, Chill!" Her dad cheered her on.

Chill smiled wide. She definitely knew what she was going to train to be once she was older—an ice warrior on the queen's side! She had never seen anything so… well… awesome in her life! Those Spyro books could wait, she had a new goal now!

"When do I start training? Pleeeaaase?" Chill begged.

Her mother laughed. "Chill, you can't start training now, silly! You have to be at least ten!" Her mother ruffled her blue hair. "Come on, let's go back into the house. We have to make dinner and you can go make me more of t'ose wonderful pictures."

Chill clapped her hands. "Sounds good to me!" She said cheerfully, running back into the house.

She immediately dashed back into her room, frantically going to a clean page in her sketchpad. If she was going to be an ice warrior someday, she had to have a battle suit, right? Why not draw a sketch of one she would make herself?


	2. Who is the Master, Chill or the Javelin?

**_Who is the Master, Chill or the Javelin?_**

Chill felt like jumping for joy. It was finally finished! This drawing had taken forever!

It had been a week since the fight with the cat creatures. The cats hadn't returned, and it had been rather quiet in the ice kingdom since then. Since then, all Chill had been doing was drawing out sketches of what she wanted her suit to look like, and other various images of weapons she could use. So far, she had only made two she liked.

One picture showed an ice javelin with intricate patterns on the spearhead edges. They were in the pattern of a fernlike stellar dendrite snowflake. That meant the edges looked like fern leaves, and the center was the shape of a circle. Next to the sketched ice javelin was a sketch of a metal and ice shield.

The shield was in the shape of the rather uncommonly used beveled edge. This meant its two sides were perfectly symmetrical, lining up to one another, coming down to a sharp point at the bottom. The top had two valley-shaped ridges that connected to a point in the middle. The very end of the valleys connected to the symmetrical sides with points as well.

The next showed her battlesuit. The suit itself was slick and aerodynamic with shoulder spikes and a belt that ended with icicle-shaped points. The sleeves were larger than needed because they were going to be metal, and would be harder to move around in. Sapphire blue markings littered multiple parts of the suit.

Chill had decided she wasn't going to wear a helmet to start off because, for one, she liked her blonde hair. Most Thaumaturges had bluish or silver-white hair. And two, because she didn't need one just yet.

Now she would have to go and find some materials to make the suit. Far easier said than done. But Chill had no problems with a little hard work to get something she wanted so badly. She grabbed the two sketched pictures and dashed out of her room, sending several papers flying off the walls.

"Chill?" Her dad called to her from the couch, which was silver and white. He must have been reading something, because he shut a red book and sat it down next to him. "What're you still doing up? It's, like, twelve in the morning…" He yawned. He was wearing a blue and gray T-shirt now. His pale golden hair was exposed. Chill had gotten her hair color from him, as her mother had white hair.

"Look!" She exclaimed, giving him the pictures. He smiled and nodded.

"T'ose are great! I can get you t'e t'ings to make those," he told her.

Chill suppressed a squeak of excitement. "Really?" She gasped. "T'ank you, Dad, t'ank you so much!" She bounced a little and hugged him, accidentally falling on top of him. He groaned and pushed her a little bit. She giggled and backed away. "Sorry."

"Haha, it's fine… Now go to bed, little warrior," he said, ruffling her hair. "It's way past your bedtime, I know your mot'er told you to be in bed by ten t'irty."

"Hehe, okay," she giggled sheepishly. She skipped back to her room, flopping down on the bed. Several books, pencils, and papers fell onto the floor. She blinked at them. Her room seemed to always stay a mess, her bed especially.

She crossed her arms and stared at it. "Well, t'is is stupid. How am I supposed to sleep with all this junk everywhere?" She carefully picked up her two-hundred-page-long sketchbook and placed it on the silver and white table next to her bed. She could get the pencils and other drawing supplies up tomorrow. She shoved them into the floor. Chill should have known by now that she'd forget about it come tomorrow morning, but she didn't.

She curled up in the bed, wrapping the white, blue, and lavender-colored blankets around her. She sighed as she fell asleep. _Mom and dad's a guardian of the snow queen, I'm going to be one when I get older, I'm going to get my own battlesuit…. What could be better? _With that thought, she contentedly drifted off to sleep.

Chill, despite having gone to bed late, woke up early the next morning. It was nine-o'-clock, and her father had left the house already, but her mother was only just leaving. Chill yawned and trudged into the living room, practically falling onto the couch.

Her mother wagged a finger at her. "I told you to go to bed at ten t'irty last night, young lady."

Chill squirmed slightly. "Okay, sorry," she didn't really feel all that sorry though. It had been worth it to finish those pictures. She rocked her head slowly back and forth to the beat of the song she was humming to herself.

Her mother rolled her eyes as she walked out the door. "Very convincing. Be good, and we'll see you tonight, Chill! Stay cool!"

"See you t'en!" Chill waved after her mother, and smiled at the last part. 'Stay cool' was something her mother loved to say to her for some reason.

Chill immediately got to work. Jumping up, she darted into the kitchen. The javelin she had used a week ago had to have been placed somewhere else, because it was no longer lying out visible on the kitchen table. Chill tapped her foot impatiently on the ground.

"Why would mom or dad hide it?" She wondered aloud as she opened up the cabinets. Nope, it wasn't there… She closed the cabinet doors and looked around the kitchen, feeling irritated.

The flooring was white with golden fringed edges on each tile. The kitchen table was silver with pale blue chairs surrounding it. A golden vase with a few ice roses in it sat on the table (ice roses are blue roses that only grow in cold places).

The cabinets were pale blue as well, but made out of metal. The counters were plain white with silver edges, and the sink was silver. They didn't have any electrical appliances; everything was powered using ice magic. Chill sulked even further. She couldn't use any magical ice powers yet, only her mother and father could. As well, Thaumaturges could eat meat, like steak or chicken, uncooked.

She snapped her fingers once she laid eyes on the kitchen closet. Of course! She opened up the doors and clambered on top of the silver and lavender-colored washing machine, and smiled once she saw what she was looking for hanging on the wall. Small hooks were holding the ice javelin, spear, and sword. She grabbed the javelin, but her footing slipped, and she fell off the washer. Her head hit the ground, hard.

"Ow!" She jumped up and rubbed the back of her head. It hurt. "Well…t'at could have gone better…" Grumbling to herself she picked up the javelin from where it had fallen next to her and walked into the living room. She set it on the couch and skipped to her room, returning with a pen in her hand.

She carefully analyzed the spot that she wanted to carve the fernlike pattern into. The very end of the javelin. The fernlike pattern was no laughing matter—it. Was. HARD.

First, she chiseled a circle into the ice with the pen. Due to the texture of the ice, the pen would not leave any sort of mark. She concentrated hard, biting her lower lip out of habit. After carving in the circle, she slowly and carefully carved in a line from every angle of the circle to the outside.

When she was done, it looked like the line art of a small sun. She smiled. She was getting there! She began to draw tiny lines, like lines of fur, from the sides of each line. It took almost an hour, but when she finally finished, she had gotten the exact pattern she wanted—the fernlike stellar dendrite!

"Well, almost t'ere!" She sang, humming a tune she had made up herself. It alternated between upper and lower beats. She flipped around the javelin, the other end now facing her. She did the same thing to it and was beginning to feel the strain of only getting nine hours of sleep when she should have gotten about ten and a half. It was nearly twelve in the afternoon by the time she finished that end.

But she clapped in praise of herself once it was finished. "Yes!" She went into her room and plucked the page from her side table that had the sketch of the javelin on it.

They matched! She swore the sketch had just jumped off the page and appeared in real life in front of her. Chill picked it up and felt how heavy it was. It wasn't too heavy.

She then reared back her arm, and, aiming at the wall, threw the javelin. It sliced into the wall, sticking there like a dart to a dartboard. Chill gaped at what she had done. "Oh, no! Mom or Dad'll have my head for t'at!" She exclaimed. Maybe she could hide it…

She went into the kitchen and back into the closet from where she had fallen. The back of her head wasn't hurting anymore. Beside the washing machine were two baskets, both silver in color. Chill took one and tugged it into the living room. She flipped it so the underside was facing towards the ceiling next to where the javelin was stuck in the wall and hopped on top. She reached upwards and grabbed the edge of the javelin.

The javelin came out of the wall without much problem, but now there was another problem. How was she supposed to hide the hideous two inch wide hole in the wall? "Hope my breat' is cold enough!" She laughed cheerfully, blowing a puff of cold air. Ice crystalized over the hole and matched with the white walls. Well, not exactly match, but who would notice that?

She hopped back down and dragged the basket back into the kitchen. She shoved it back next to the washer and then skipped back into the living room, picking up the javelin. She shook her head and giggled at the same time. "I can wait to practice the javelin toss. Maybe I should just practice using it to fight head-on…"

She picked it up and did a complete three-sixty on her back heel, holding the javelin straight out from her side. She spun over towards the couch and ended up falling on it. Her golden hair flew into her face, covering her eyes, and the javelin made a loud clattering sound as it fell to the floor.

Chill puffed, blowing her hair out of her face. She jumped up and picked up the javelin, staring at it. "You listen here, pal," she began, talking to it as though it were a living being. "I master you, not t'e ot'er way around!" She then lashed out her arm holding the javelin a few times, making slashing motions. She had managed to do a perfect cartwheel-N-flip trick with this thing yesterday, why couldn't she get it right today?

She threw the javelin and did a front flip, quickly grabbing the javelin out of the air before it hit another wall. She beamed at this. "Yes! I caught it, I caught it, I caught it!"

"Chill, what're you doing?" Chill jumped practically out of her skin when she heard her father's voice. She turned around from the doorframe that led to her mother and father's bedroom and saw him coming in the front door.

"Hi, Dad!" She exclaimed, running over to him. She hugged him and then bounced up and down. "You'll never guess what I did! I got t'e javelin, and I made the snowflake pattern in it!" She picked up the javelin and showed it to him. "See?"

When he didn't respond, she looked up at him. Something was wrong. He wasn't usually home this early. He normally didn't come home until three or so. His face was a reddish color and his eyes looked watery. He pushed past her and sat down on the couch.

"Dad?" Chill walked over to him setting the javelin down on the ground. "What's wrong?"

"Not'ing. I'm just going to miss your mot'er while she's… away on her trip," he said meekly, his voice cracking.

"Ooh! Trip! What trip is she on? Does she have to go find trolls or somet'ing? Man, t'ose t'ings are ugly! With t'eir green and orange skin, and the big eyes, and the long ears—!" Chill realized that her father wasn't really listening to her. He had his arms crossed and his head sitting on top of them. He bit his lower lip.

Chill frowned. Wouldn't he be happy that mom was off fighting bad guys? Chill didn't like the dark atmosphere in the room. She took the javelin up off the floor and walked back to her room, deep in thought about what her dad could be upset about.

* * *

**Yes, I know I said in "Dreams" that Chill's hair was blue, and in many chapters of Skylanders: Rise of the Dragon King, but if you pick up Chill's figure and look beneath her helmet...**

**BLONDE. BLONDE. OHMIGOD. Now I have to go edit every time I've said Chill's hair was blue out and put it as blonde in Dragon King, which is an 88,000+ word story, and then fix this one's chapter one. URG. xD**


	3. Silver School

_**Silver School**_

"Come on, Chill, or you'll be late," her dad ushered her forward.

Chill irritably walked out of the house and onto the snow-laden ground. "But I hate Silver School, you know t'at!"

He laughed half-heartedly. "Doesn't mean you can stay at home just because you hate it. Come on," he took hold of her hand and walked down the snow-covered path. The Snow Kingdom was a long, wide island covered in snow and ice. Houses were either blue, white, silver, gray, or lavender-colored.

Due to it being Monday, Chill was heading to Silver School—a school that taught the history on the Snow Kingdom, ancient battle styles of the ice warriors, literature, art, and mathematics. Chill enjoyed the bits about the history, art, and battle styles, but everything else was just irritating to her.

The Silver School was closer to the center of the Ice Kingdom. Chill's teachers had often said that made it easier to protect from invaders during any time. Chill soon found something else to think about when she saw something she'd never forget.

"Dad—t'at's Celsius' house!" Chill pointed at the blue and gray house, now in shambles and ashes on the ground. Panicked, she grabbed him and pointed. "Look!"

"T'eir fine, Chill, t'eir fine," he soothed her. But something about the way he was talking made her doubt him. But she forgot her doubts when a familiar voice called out to her.

"Chill!"

"Celsius?" Chill turned around to see the young male Thaumaturge heading her way. He wore a dark, navy blue shirt and pants with silvery-white laces and threads here and there. His hair was aquamarine colored and his eyes were the same. His hair stood, spiked, on top of his head, not even covering his ears.

"Crazy, huh? T'ere was a huge battle yesterday! I'm surprised you didn't hear it!" He exclaimed, tearing her away from her father. He stopped at an intersection where two paths met. He pointed ahead. "A bunch of Lava Kings and Drow came and attacked! They burned half the town down!"

Chill awed as she looked ahead. The snow further ahead was melted completely away, scorched, bluish-white grass left in its wake. The houses beside the disintegrated pathway were no better. Most were leveled to the ground with ash representing what once would have been furniture. Maybe even Thaumaturges… Chill backed away and leaned against Celsius. "T'is is horrible! Is everybody okay?"

"I heard everybody but a few made it. T'en a bunch of t'e ice guards were sent out to attack the drow back," Celsius explained. Gasping excitedly, he dashed forward into the ashen pathway, grabbing something out of the rubble. "Look, Chill, it's a helmet! Pretty cool one, too!"

Chill gaped when she saw it. It had wing-like pendants on the side, and had a triangular shape cut into it right above the opening for the face. It was silver with blue lining. Her heart skipped a beat. That was her mother's helmet! She ran over to Celsius and grabbed it from him. "Give me t'at!" She exclaimed. "Why would Mom leave wit'out her helmet…?"

Celsius looked offended. "Hey, I found it! Finders keepers, losers weepers!"

She glared at him. "T'is is my mom's hat, you dweeb!" She spotted her father staring at them from the edge of the burnt pathway. He looked strange. His hands were trembling and so was his lip, but he spoke firmly once he marched over to her.

"Give me t'e hat," he said.

"It's mom's!" Chill exclaimed again, but obediently handing it over. "She never leaves wit'out her hat!"

"She lost it during t'e fight wit' t'e drow," he explained, clenching his jaw. "She was looking for it just before she left to go wit' t'e ot'ers to fight t'e drow. She's fine. But you and Celsius need to get to Silver School. No buts! Get going!"

Chill flinched. She had never heard her father's voice sound like that before… But she didn't want to hear him yell again, so she pushed Celsius forward a little and they began to run off down the pathway that split off the intersection to the left, leading to an untouched part of the kingdom.

There it was! All on its own, the silver schoolhouse with a long, slate-colored roof and spiraling white staircase, standing innocently with other child thaumaturges chatting beside it. Chill soon forgot about her father yelling, and having been reassured that her mother was just fine, she dashed ahead of Celsius. She playfully yelled, "Come on, race you t'ere!"

"Oh-ho, you're on!" He bolted towards her, and they began shoving each other before they got to the staircase. There, Chill stopped immediately when she spotted Nicole and Bruce.

They were brother and sister, and also went to the Silver School. Due to the low population of people living in the ice kingdom, and rather primitive teaching techniques, all the children were simply taught in one large building, altogether under one roof.

Nicole had silver-blonde hair, and it was much longer and silkier than Chill's. Her clothes were bright silver and aqua, and she had pretty blue eyes. Her brother, Bruce, looked almost exactly the same as his sister. He had spiky silver-blonde hair and pale blue eyes. They were one of the few children, or Thaumaturge's in general, that had blonde hair at all.

"Hi, Chill," Bruce sneered at her. "Why do you even bother coming? Oh, and didn't you hear about yesterday?"

Celsius jumped forward, shoving Chill out of the way. "Keep your mout' shut, why don't you? I'm sure you have much better t'ings to do wit' your time, like brushing that silver mop on your head you call hair!" He snapped.

Bruce looked as though he'd been smacked in the face. Chill grinned and stuck out her tongue.

"Enough, enough," the teacher's voice, Mrs. McLaughlin, called out. She wore a sapphire blue dress with her ice-white hair hanging down over her ears and down to her hips. Her glasses magnified her large, greenish-blue eyes. "Inside, all of you."

Chill and Celsius were shoved aside by some of the larger children, as well as Bruce and Nicole, but got inside the large silver building all the same.

The inside was much like the outside; silver walls, a white floor and ceiling, a chalkboard at the front. There wasn't anything electronic within sight. Desks were lined all in the center of the rectangular room, each one blue and gold in color. Smaller kids in the front, larger kids in the back. Chill was in the second row, and Celsius sat right by her.

Mrs. McLaughlin cleared her throat before she spoke. "Before we begin today, I wanted to have us pray for what happened yesterday. We were attacked by the Drow and Lava Kings. Much of the south side was destroyed, but teams from the ice castle are supposed to be working on it soon. Now, close your eyes and clasp your hands together…"

Chill sighed deeply as she did so. She was used to this by now. There was no single god or heavenly being that reigned over Skylands. Everybody had their own different god, or religious figure to believe in. The Ice Kingdom's figure and symbol of power was Skali and Kholi.

Ancient legend states that Skali, along with Kholi, were the very first two Thaumaturges. Nobody knows how they got there, but when they did, other creatures did not take kindly to them due to their powers over winter, ice, and snow, and often referred to them as the age-old taunt 'ice-hearts'. They found a snowy island in the northern regions of Skylands and settled it for Thaumaturges. There are also tales of the Thaumaturge being an ancient race of beings that were scattered so scarcely throughout Skylands, that they nearly were not able to make a comeback in numbers.

Even then there were still very few Thaumaturges. Chill sighed and tilted her head to the side. There couldn't possibly be more than three thousand of them on the island. Her thoughts were interrupted when Mrs. McLaughlin began the prayer.

"_Kholi and Skali, may you hear our prayers, and cherish them and the children they come from. Yesterday we fought in a bloody battle, and lost a few noble warriors. May you welcome them and love them just as you did when they were alive… Gelu,_" Mrs. McLaughlin's voice intertwined with everyone else's, including Chill's.

Chill finished with the word 'Gelu' as well. 'Gelu' means 'ice' in an ancient magic language only used in Skylands today to call upon spells and other various charms. But to Thaumaturges, it meant much more than ice; it meant farewell, too.

"Now, we can start wit' some history, and t'en we can move on furt'er!" Mrs. McLaughlin clapped her hands together, turning to the chalkboard. But something was pestering Chill, and she didn't really pay attention to the war Mrs. McLaughlin was talking about that had happened over two hundred years ago.

Chill had noticed that a lot of the history they studied was mostly warring, raiding, or something else negative on their homeland. Only a few times had it been about an old queen or new rules added to the government… Chill raised her hand.

"Yes, Chill?" Mrs. McLaughlin broke off for a second, staring at her.

"How come there are so many wars and fights?" She asked innocently.

Mrs. McLaughlin looked taken aback. She sighed before she continued. "Because not that many others are pleased with the Thaumaturge species, and many do not respect our ways. I've told you all the Code of Honor for Thaumaturges. Many others find our Code of Honor laughable and do not respect how we protect our queen, or even our way of government," Mrs. McLaughlin shook her head. "You wouldn't understand. That is for another day."

"But we would," Chill heard a male child from the back call. He had to be at least fourteen. His dark, navy blue hair fell in his face, covering his eyes and he wore a simple white shirt and pants.

It was rare to see a child over the age of nine in the Silver School. After that, most would go off to the academy to be trained as warriors. But certain kids would refuse the chance, and if they did, they spent most of their life doing other things, like building, teaching, growing food, or even becoming skilled in trading and negotiating with other tribes of different species.

"Yes, Naliko, but there are younger children in this class," she said softly. "That is a discussion for those at the academy, and you know very well why."

"Whatever," Naliko replied gruffly.

Mrs. McLaughlin glared at him before continuing. This time, Chill paid close attention. The war was one between the Thaumaturges and Trolls. Chill didn't like the sound of it.

"We nearly lost that one, but we were helped by some very special creatures and one very special person. The Skylanders," Mrs. McLaughlin kept going and Chill's eyes widened as she listened to every word. "Then, the Skylanders were very different from the ones known today, and their Portal Master was not Eon; rather, his name was Infinite and there were only twenty-eight Skylanders then. But we were helped, and with their help, we managed to fight off the trolls. But their help did not arrive until late in the war. This will lead to our study of the ancient Skylanders," Mrs. McLaughlin ended the speech by beginning to draw something on the chalkboard.

When she moved out of the way, Chill's eyes, if possible, went even wider. It was a dragon that had fur all over his body, no horns, but ears, and a tail that ended with an icicle. His entire left side was colored in white by the chalk, while Mrs. McLaughlin had left his other side completely untouched.

She pointed at the drawing. "This is Dissius. He is who we will study next for history. But for now, let's move on to math…"

Ugh! Great! Math!

* * *

**Don't worry Chill, I think we all hate math as much as you do. xD**

**As for Dissius, I did a quick image and put him up on my DA account:**

**h t_t p : / / fc09 . deviantart . n_e t / fs70 / f/ 2013 /242 /1 / c/ dissius_by_star_the_houndoom-d6kb2zp . png**

**Just remove the spaces and the underscore at the beginning and in net. That's there because FF keeps deleting it. That's why the image for Riley won't work (which I conveniently deleted the file... -.-).**


	4. Celsius' Level Secrets

_**Celsius' Level Secrets**_

Chill left the Silver School feeling quite irritable. The last part of the day had been mostly literature, and that meant analyzing books word for word, or sometimes pointless small stories that made no sense whatsoever.

She stepped out onto the snow outside and looked around carefully. She put her hands on her hips. Her dad was nowhere to be seen, but Celsius barged past her and threw himself into his mother's arms.

His mother then looked up at her. "Chill, come here," she said. Celsius' mother was a middle-aged woman with sea-green hair and solid green eyes. She always wore the same blue and golden battlesuit, complete with oceanic-blue boots and gloves. She had a black bag at her feet.

Chill walked over and tilted her head. "Yeah?"

"Your fat'er wanted you to stay t'e night wit' us tonight. He gave me t'is, too," she leaned down and pulled out some clothing materials, as well as some metal, from the bag at her feet.

Chill gasped upon realizing it was all the colored suit and materials she'd need to make her battlesuit! She rocketed over to Celsius' mother and bounced excitedly. "Ooh, he did, he did, he did!" She continued to exclaim. But then… why didn't he just give them to her here? "Where is he anyway?"

"He said he wanted to be alone," Celsius' mom said, waving her hand at her. "He—"

Celsius suddenly stepped on her foot, making her jump. Celsius' mother looked down at him in surprise. "Celsius! What on Skylands—?!"

Celsius had a pleading look on his face, and his mother raised a brow, but said nothing more. Chill noticed, but didn't make anything of it at the time; she was still going ecstatic over the materials. "Hey—Celsius, you want to help me make my suit?" She asked him, still beaming.

"Of course!" He exclaimed, jumping over to her side. "So, uh…. What goes where and does what?"

She stifled laughter. "Very specific."

"Aw, hush," he picked up a piece of shining metal and looked at his reflection. "Hey, I am pretty good-looking, hehe…"

"Celsius, knock t'at nonsense off," his mother scolded him. "Come on, bot' of you."

"Uh, wait a second…" Chill stopped, handing the materials to her suit back to Celsius' mother. "I t'ought your house was destroyed in the fight t'e ot'er day?"

"It was, but we've been staying at my mot'er's house," Celsius' mom explained. "Oh, and by t'e way, my name is Amika, if you didn't know."

"Oh, okay! So, do I call you Miss Amika?" Chill asked, skipping alongside her as she trudged along, barely managing to carry the black bag. The snow on the ground wasn't as thick as usual… Probably because of the battle the other day. "Or Mrs. Or Ms…?" She asked again.

"Just call me Amika, no need for any of the 'Misses'," Amika laughed, waving a hand at her. Celsius suddenly did a flip and a roll on the ground, before shoving Chill to the ground.

"Halt! Who goes t'ere—friend or foe?!" He demanded in a fake deep voice, holding her to the ground. Chill giggled and tried to push him off.

"It's me, Chill, you silly!" She laughed.

"T'en you're a foe!" He laughed too, grabbing her and pretending to wrestle with her in the ground. Amika watched from a few feet away, looking amused and annoyed at the same time.

Chill pushed him off and rolled over, locking him below her. "Gotcha!"

"Whatever! I'm the commander of the T'aumaturge army, you can't just 'get me'!" He exclaimed indignantly, trying to push her away, puffing to blow the strands of his bangs out of his face. "I'm like Zotak, but a t'ousand times better!"

Zotak was one of the best commanders of the Thaumaturge army at the time. He was the Snow Queen's go-to guard, and he was one of the most loyal Thaumaturges on the island. He also had quite a reputation for being nasty to those who chose not to become warriors, but do other things. He was well-renowned for being unreasonably harsh to teachers and other Thaumaturges for this reason… But you have to admit, he had a cool name.

"Puh-lease! Nobody's better t'an Zotak! If you're better t'an Zotak, I'm a million times better t'an Molito!" Molito was another one of the Snow Queen's elite guards, but she mostly did far-out attacks and invasions (such as raids on other creatures' lands). She too had blonde hair as well.

"YEAH RIGHT! You!? Molito? Hahaha!" Celsius threw his head back and laughed like crazy. Chill resisted the urge to slap him and when she loosened her grip to get off him, he bowled her over, shoving her to the ground.

He smirked. "Never let your guard down!"

"You're just repeating what t'e kids from t'e academy say!" She giggled, kicking him. He yelled in pain and jumped off, falling on his back.

"Ow, ow, ow! Right in t'e snowballs!" He exclaimed, Chill laughing louder than ever. She didn't know why it hurt guys so bad when she kicked them in between the legs, but it was hilarious all the same. Especially when Celsius did it. He made the biggest clown of himself EVER.

"Celsius! How many times do I have to tell you not to say that? And get up and you two calm down!" Amika hollered, straightening Celsius up and continuing to rant behind his back as she straightened out his suit. He raised a hand and did a 'blah blah blah' sign with it by smacking his four fingers with his thumb, causing Chill to giggle even louder. His mother shoved his hand back down to his side.

"I saw t'at!" She said crossly, grabbing his hand and telling Chill to follow her.

"But Dad said it when one of the Drow hit him there!" Celsius defended himself, giggling.

"Your fat'er's also a grown man," Amika snapped.

Celsius did the 'blah blah blah' sign behind his back again, out of his mother's view. Chill's stifling laughter made her lungs hurt.

Chill skipped along close behind Celsius, humming the usual 'up and down' beat that stayed in her head all the time. Amika led them to a small, but bright electric blue house with white doors and windows. Chill was a little taken aback by the eccentric coloring.

Whoever lived here wasn't all that normal….

"Ooh, Amika, Celsius, and—oh, who's this, Amika?" A woman with hair as eccentric as the color of her house answered the white door when Amika knocked on it. One of her eyes was neon green, the other neon blue. Her blouse was the exact same shade of emerald as her one eye. She let them in, and Amika didn't say a word, but Celsius began blabbing right away.

"T'is is my friend, Chill! She lives down t'e ot'er side of t'e island, and her dad is an ice war—" Chill cut off his rant.

"So is my mom!" She chimed in, smiling.

Celsius gave her a nervous look, but continued on. "Yeah. And, she just got some supplies to make her battlesuit today, and I was going to help her!"

"T'at all sounds AMAZING!" The woman exclaimed, hugging Celsius with a grip tight enough to cut off blood circulation. Celsius shoved her off and gasped repeatedly.

"Geez, Grandma, at least let me breat'e!" He panted.

"Oh, sorry dear! Oh, and you, come here!" She turned to Chill, who panicked and ducked.

"I, erm, have to go make my suit now, see you!" Chill quickly dashed out of the woman's reach, and into an unfamiliar hallway. The pictures were hung at odd angles on the walls, and the flooring was silver and blue tiles, and looked rather unclean… Celsius soon joined her side.

"Hey, Chill, watch out, t'is place is a… little weird," he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head modestly. "Grandma's a little crazy… Okay, okay, a lot. But come on, I'll show you t'e guestroom—t'at's where I've been staying—and give you a tour of t'e house."

"Celsius, I wanted to ask you, why didn't you let your mom say what she wanted to earlier?" Chill asked him. She had wondered that for a bit, and now she wanted the answer.

"Um…." Celsius sighed and his arms drooped at his sides. "Come on, follow me…"

"Celsius?" Chill raised a brow. It was almost unnerving to see him looking so… down. Celsius was always one to try and make somebody feel better, and never had much of a depressing aura about him. Even when he was sad over his pet fish dying a year ago, he had only been sad for two days before he was over it.

"Follow me…" he repeated again, leading her down the hall. It split off into four different rooms—one large master bedroom, a smaller bedroom, a medium-sized bedroom, and a bathroom. Celsius trudged towards the small bedroom. "Here…" he opened up the white door, revealing another blindingly neon-colored room.

It was bright aquamarine with neon green zigzag patterns here and there. Chill stopped at the doorway, recoiling from the brightness of the room. "What…? Did some paint cans explode in here?"

"No, but I wish it did so I'd have an excuse for these crazy walls," Celsius muttered. He flopped down on a medium-sized bed that was close to the ground. Its sheets were white, but the blanket itself was yellow. The room didn't match at all… The ground was white as well, but the furniture was either yellow, orange, or green.

"Did brownies and fairies come in here and throw up…?" Chill asked again, flopping down beside him.

"Chill…. Listen…" Celsius looked at her closely, turning her face towards him. He looked straight into her eyes. "I… I heard somet'ing today. And wit' t'e way your fat'er's been acting lately, I do t'ink it's true… And I forgot to say it, but when I picked up your mot'er's helmet…. T'ere was blood on it. Chill…. Mrs. McLaughlin said your mot'er is dead."

Chill froze. What? What had she just heard? No… it was far too foreign. It had to be a joke. An impractical joke. "T'at's not funny," she scowled at him, crossing her arms. Why on _Skylands _would he joke like that?!

"Chill…" Celsius bit his lip and looked down. "I'm sorry… I didn't know until today, Nicole, Bruce, Zelka, Rolita, Bolxin… Lots of t'e older kids told me it was true, too…."

It had to be a joke. A sick laugh he was trying to get out of her. There was no way… Then that would mean her father lied… But then again… He had acted strange lately… Especially yesterday when he came home, he flopped down on the couch and didn't move for a long time… And she swore she heard him cry sometime in the night…

But it couldn't be true! It couldn't!

"You're wrong!" Chill spat, jumping off the bed. "_You're wrong_!" She clenched her fists. It wasn't true. One of the two people that had been there since she was born… And then the other one of those two people, her father… Had been lying? Was it possible?

"Chill, I'm not!" Celsius jumped indignantly to his feet. "I am not lying! Why would I lie to you?!" He demanded.

"Liar!" She spat again. She turned and marched out of the room, going back to the living room. Amika and Celsius' grandmother were talking, but stopped when she marched into the living room, barely managing to hold off tears.

Amika was sitting on a pale yellow couch, her eccentric relative a foot in front of her. "What is wrong, Chill?" Amika asked, blinking.

Chill glared at her in cold fury, but she didn't know why… It wasn't true, it wasn't true, it wasn't true… but then… why would everyone have told Celsius' it was true…? She balled her fists tighter and clenched her jaw. Her father. He was the only one who could prove anything.

"I want to go home," she said. "I want to go home right now."


	5. Fool Me Once, Shame On You

_**Fool Me Once, Shame On You...**_

Amika blinked. "Chill, what's wrong?"

"Celsius just told me somet'ing and I want to go home to figure out whet'er it's true or not!" She didn't want to hear anything from Amika. She wanted to go home and figure out what was happening—or what had happened.

"Chill?" Celsius came out of the hallway looking slightly fearful. "Are you okay?"

She ignored him.

Amika sighed. "Alright t'en… But can you at least wait until Celsius' fat'er gets here? He can take you back. I'm a little tired out."

Chill paced back and forth in front of the wall. Back, and forth, back, and forth…

Celsius suddenly stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder. "Chill? Do you want to play somet'ing?" He asked hopefully.

She glared at him, hoping her icy blue eyes could strike terror into his soul. "My mot'er could be dead! No, I do not want to play a _game_!" She shouted.

"I was just trying to cheer you up!" He responded, sounding hurt. He huffed and sat down next to his mother on the floor. "Jerk…"

She shot him another icy stare. She looked away and continued to pace back and forth, ignoring Amika's comforting words, and Celsius' grandmother's incessant babbling. Soon she felt dizzy, and sat down close to Celsius, but not directly next to him.

"Chill, really, I'm sure every—"

She was _not _falling for that again! Of course nothing was alright! Why else would everyone, even Bruce and Nicole, say that her mother had died? Celsius was a jokester, but not in that way. He didn't get sick kicks like that. "Stop lying, all of you!" She yelled, jumping to her feet.

Amika looked at her. "Chill, lower your voice."

How _dare_ she tell her what to do? Did she know the fear of losing a parent? Chill didn't think so. Celsius had mentioned his grandfather before, and his dad's parents, and here was his grandmother, who was as eccentric as they came… No. She didn't know any of it. "Oh, what would you know?" Chill snapped, flopping down next to Celsius.

"How would I know?" Amika's voice was deathly soft at first, but then she sighed and shook her head. "No. Nobody should have ever sugarcoated it for you. Deat' is a common occurrence in the Snow Regions and it is time you learned to cope wit' it, because it's going to happen more t'an once." She looked down at Chill. "Do you understand?"

"No!" She replied, getting to her feet again. "No, I don't! Why are we always fighting and why do they fight to _kill_?"

Amika blinked at her with a blank stare. "T'at in and of itself is a completely different story."

"Well, hello t'ere, Chill!"

Chill whipped around. She hadn't even noticed Chill's father walk through the door. He was quite tall, and he looked puzzled. He had pale green eyes and sky blue hair. His helmet was white with silver highlights, and so was his suit. The only things that were different were his gloves and boots, which were white with blue highlights. He shifted uncomfortably with all eyes on him. "Erm…. Everything okay?"

"Please take her home so her fat'er can explain a few t'ings to her. Take t'is," Amika murmured, giving him the black bag.

"Why? Somet'ing wrong?" He asked confusedly, hugging her quickly.

"Yes, somet'ing is wrong!" Chill tapped her foot impatiently. They could be a sappy couple later!

"Alright, come on, Chill," he picked up the bag, easily slinging it over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Celsius, are you coming?"

Celsius nodded. "Yeah, I want to go."

"Alright, t'en, let's go, you two," he practically sang, opening the door and stepping out. Chill followed him quite silently, Celsius at her side.

Celsius was walking rather slowly and he was shuffling his feet through the snow rather than stepping over it. His head was hung slightly and he stayed quiet as they walked. Chill felt a little guilt prick her, but her head was still churning thoughts. If her father had lied, and her mother was indeed…. Indeed dead… then… how could she trust him with telling her other things?

What if Celsius was hurt or even… or even… she couldn't bring herself to think out the rest of the thought. But if that did happen, and he said that Celsius would be okay, how would she know whether to trust him or not?

That thought made her breath nearly catch in her throat. The guilt of having yelled at him earlier prodded her worse. She looked at him and bit her lip. She wanted to apologize and say she was sorry, but something made her hesitate. A feeling she did not understand. It was like… she wanted to do it, but at the same time, didn't want to because it would make her look… weak? Was that the word she was trying to think of?

He still looked quite miserable, continuing to drag his feet. His father looked back at them both in concern. "Okay, somet'ing isn't right… Is it my boots and gloves? Gah, Zulla told me they looked tacky with the silver and white, maybe I should've listened," he looked at his boots and gloves nervously.

"Dad, it's not t'e gloves or not'ing!" Celsius' shout caught her completely off guard. Chill jumped aside, and Celsius glared at his father. "Her dad's a liar, he said her mot'er was fine, but she's dead!"

Chill felt the words hit her like a physical blow. That was the reality… She was gone…

Celsius panted after his outburst. He then looked back at Chill worriedly.

Chill didn't meet his gaze, rather, she stared at her feet.

"Jauvien!" Chill heard her father call out. She looked up and saw him running towards Celsius' father.

"Ryan! I t'ink you've got a bit of explaining to do," Jauvien placed his hands on his hips. He had his lips pursed and was tapping his foot irritably.

Chill's dad looked from Jauvien to Celsius, then to Chill. Chill immediately broke her gaze away from him. She didn't want to look at him. Not at all.

"Chill? What's wrong?" He asked.

She felt fury sear through her. "What's wrong?" She repeated softly, but in a dangerous way. "What's wrong is you didn't tell me Mom was _dead_!"

"How…?" He looked speechless. He looked to Jauvien. "Where did you hear t'at information and why would you tell her now?" He asked angrily.

"I didn't tell her anyt'ing," Jauvien defended himself. "It was eit'er Amika or Celsius. But t'at doesn't matter. You bot' have a lot to talk about. Celsius, come on, we're going home." Jauvien dropped the bag on the ground, patted Celsius on the back, and steered him around. He gave Chill one last worried look before following his father.

Chill watched them leave. It wasn't until her father called her name that she even looked in his direction.

"Chill, let's go home," he said weakly, picking up the bag.

She glared at him and refused to move. "What happened?" She demanded.

"I'll tell you everyt'ing once we get home," he answered. Chill just stared at him. Would he really? If he had lied, then what would stop him from lying again? Chill shook her head. What was she thinking? He was her dad, right? He had to know that he'd been found out… So why would he try to keep lying?

She followed him slowly after staring at him for at least thirty seconds. She didn't understand. Her head hurt from trying to make sense of it all. She took to staring at the ground as he led her back to the house.

They walked in and Chill immediately began hurling questions at her father like snowballs. "What's happened? Where's Mom? Did you really lie?"

"Chill…" He sat on the couch, and put his face in his hands. Chill just glared at him. Did he want pity from her? Ha, well he wasn't going to get it! He continued on. "Chill, sit down next to me. T'ere's a lot t'at needs to be explained…"

_T'ere sure is!_ She thought. But she sat next to him all the same.

"Chill, on Sunday, as you know, we were attacked by the Drow and some Lava Kings… Our sector, me and your mot'er's, were called as some of t'e first to battle. Well, we were sent out, and we fought… A Lava King and three Drow cornered me and your mot'er down towards the sout' side. Only a few more sectors had been sent out because Zotak didn't call it as a high alert. He didn't t'ink it was t'at bad… but his judgment was wrong.

"T'ere were many. Your mot'er and I were separated, and I was knocked out for a long time. When I woke up… I was told t'at your mot'er was dead… and she is," he finished by looking at her.

She gaped at him. "So… you did lie and it is true?"

"Chill… I didn't just do it to hurt you. Why on Skylands would I do t'at? No. I did it because I t'ought it'd hurt you too much… but I see how wrong I was now," he shook his head sadly, looking down. "No. I'm sorry. But you know she's always wit' you… I know you believe in the legend of Skoli and Kholi, Chill. She's with them now," he smiled at her sadly. She could see the tears welling in his eyes. It reminded her of a cold winter storm about to break through dark storm clouds.

But she still couldn't get over it. Her mother had been killed in battle… And she hadn't known. Nobody had told her. Nobody but Celsius had even been willing to address the subject. She felt tears well in her own eyes. And she hated it. She hated crying. It made her feel weak, inadequate, and very much like a baby.

She didn't want to listen to anymore. She'd heard enough. That was all she had wanted to know. The conclusion was, he had indeed lied, and her mother was indeed dead. That was all she needed to know.

"Chill, I promise you, she's never really gone, and you'll see her someday," he pushed her chin upwards with his finger. "Straighten up, little soldier. You'll be just fine, Chill."

She liked the comment, but didn't like it coming from him. She simply nodded. She didn't have the strength to be angry at him anymore. Guilt flooded her from having snapped angrily at Celsius, calling him a liar, and the anger she had felt at her father was slowly giving way to loathing for how he had decided to cover it up.

"It's been a long day," he told her. "Why don't you go ahead and get ready for bed? I'll make dinner."

She nodded silently again. She got to her feet and walked quietly back to her room. She immediately began searching the wall for the part of the room where the pictures of her mother were.

She spotted them next to her closet. All but two were colored, and there had to be at least fifteen up there. She smiled at them, but next to the bunch of pictures, she saw the ones she had made of her father.

She ground her teeth together and picked up the javelin from where she had left it on the bed. She took it and slashed it across the pictures, destroying all but two of them, and even they were torn off the wall and knocked to the floor. She glared at the pictures. "Good riddance," she muttered to herself.

She vowed to herself that she'd never, _ever_, be as naïve as she had been then, or, to ever allow herself to be lied to. If anybody decided they wanted to lie to her, she'd make them pay quite dearly. And if they thought they could get away with deceiving her, there'd be more in store.

_Fool me once,_ she thought, jumping on her bed and sitting there, analyzing the javelin inch by inch for design flaws. _Shame on you…_

* * *

Ryan found himself simply sitting and staring at the wall late that night. He had given Chill fish and snow peas, but she hadn't eaten a whole lot. Mostly snow peas, which was quite unusual for her… She usually hated anything vegetable-wise, but then again, Ryan didn't know a kid who didn't.

The pain of losing Carmen, Chill's mother, his wife, still stung, like a fresh, deep wound on his chest. He knew Chill had to be feeling some of the worst pain there was… He sighed. But there was no getting around it. If she was going to live in the Northern Regions, she'd have to get used to it.

He sighed again. He found the ticking of the clock on the wall to be especially annoying. His mind was far too cluttered and full of swirling, churning thoughts for him to even try reading his book… And then he was still worrying over whether Chill had really forgiven him or not.

After he had explained everything to her, she had just clammed up. She hadn't said a word more. Was that her blocking him out, or taking in the shock from what had happened?

He shook his head, scattering the thoughts. He had no idea what to think anymore. When he was a boy, his father had been killed when he was nine, just before he was about to start at the academy. His mother had died during his birth, so he had no remembrance of her. But when his father had died, his uncle had told him straight out.

Ryan had partially hated him for it, as the pain was nearly unbearable. He had had his struggle with depression and anxiety, and for a long time, some of the favorite taunts to be thrown his way were 'emo', 'masochist', and 'sociopath'. The shock had scarred him, and it was so sudden and painful he wasn't too sure how to move on with his life after that, especially without another parent to lean on.

His uncle was as tough as granite itself, and had never had children, and Ryan could tell quite easily why. He wasn't equipped to handle a child. He was tactless, and Ryan had suffered greatly from it.

He did not want Chill to go through the same things he did. That's why he lied to her. He thought if he lied and dragged it out long enough, maybe it wouldn't be as painful… But he had been wrong. Oh, so very, very wrong… And he hadn't even been able to tell her himself. No, Celsius had to go around asking everybody he knew to tell Chill.

What did that eight year old think he would do, anyway, other than harm her? Did he think she'd see him as a guiding light or some knight in shining armor? Maybe not in that exact sense, due to his young age, but close enough. He must had thought she'd think of him better if he did that deed for her. Of course, that led to his father.

Ryan didn't want to see Jauvien's face again for a long time, but he knew tomorrow he'd be forced back into the same sector with him.

Jauvien was odd, conceited, and sometimes, downright oblivious. Sure, he tried to crack a joke whenever he could, and they were quite amusing, but his overall battle style was jagged, unprepared, and annoying. And when he was young, he was usually the instigator of the verbal abuse sent his way.

He'd often be the one sending the notes written on paper, the one who cornered Ryan in the hallway, the one who chanted made up songs just to get a reaction out of him… He was the instigator for it all.

Ryan shook his head. He shouldn't be letting old rivalries be tainting his new thoughts. He'd have to just hope that Chill would be okay… It'd be up to her willpower now.

He sighed and laid down on the couch, turning over to stare at the wall. He refused to lay in the bed. That bed held so many memories… He didn't want to even look at it, let alone lie in it, especially alone…

* * *

**So, after this, I may have the story time-jump forward... not sure yet.**

**ANYWAYS self advertising woohoo. Yeah, I know, sad, but I do it every now and again. xD**

_**Skylanders: Darkest Hour: Rise of the Dragon King (**_**22 chapters)**

_**The Most Frightening of Rides **_**(****2 chapters-so far!)**

_****_**Now for advertising other stories!**

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_**The Truth in Your Eyes**_** by XandyPants **

_**Shenanigans**_** by XandyPants **

**_Skylanders ORIGINS _by Superdale33  
**


	6. Hard Feelings?

_**Hard Feelings?**_

Chill walked to the Silver School the next day without any words passing between her and her father. Key word: passing. Her father was doing his best to start any sort of conversation, but Chill was secretly begging for him to just be quiet.

She met Celsius along the way, down near the south side. His mother, Amika, was with him. He stopped shuffling his feet in the snow when he saw her, and ran over to her.

"Chill? Everyt'ing alright?" He asked urgently.

"Everyt'ing's fine," she answered. She longed to apologize for her unjustified actions yesterday, but she wouldn't do it in front of both Amika and her father.

Her father sighed and looked at Amika. "I'm sorry about yesterday. Will Jauvien be at t'e castle today?"

"He should, but I t'ink you'd be t'e last person he'd want to talk to," she answered shortly, not even making eye contact with him.

Having already been given the silent treatment by Chill and now by Amika, Chill guessed he might finally have gotten the hint that nobody was interested in talking to him. Celsius tapped her shoulder quickly and then darted a few feet ahead of her. "C'mon! Race you t'ere!"

She smirked a little. Celsius could brighten her day, no matter what had happened. She chased after him, leaving her dad and Amika to watch them from a distance.

From the south side, the Silver School was only a left turn away, and then they were with the other children. Mrs. McLaughlin was scolding the eldest kid there, Naliko, over something. He looked extremely annoyed with her, and Chill was willing to bet that he wasn't even listening.

Bruce, Nicole, and another child Chill didn't know the name of were snickering to one another from the side of the stairs that led up to the school. The rest of the children were standing in front of the stairs, chatting to one another, making quite a racket.

Chill ignored them and walked next to Celsius. She wasn't sure what she should be acting like. The death of her mother still stung… Horribly. But she wouldn't want her to be acting all down and sad… right? Celsius was doing his best to cheer her up… Would it be fair to him if she acted depressed?

She shook her head. Her head hurt from thinking.

"Oh, look, it's Chill," Nicole's voice pulled her from her thoughts.

Nicole flipped her hair and Bruce stood behind her, smirking. Nicole walked forward and circled Chill like a vulture. "Well, Chill, I heard something interesting over t'e past few days. Maybe you've heard too? Or were you too busy jumping up and down over a dumb suit?" Nicole sneered. "Your mom kicked t'e bucket t'e ot'er day, and I bet she's glad about it, too. I know I would be if _you _were my daughter."

"T'at's enough!" Celsius snarled, shoving Nicole to the ground. Chill blinked in shock. The tone of Nicole's voice, and her words… they hit far too close to home. A whole new pain filled her. She could only watch as Nicole got back up, she and Bruce now glaring at Celsius.

"What do you care, lover boy?" Bruce demanded, smirking. "Last I checked, it was you who started asking around. In fact, you even asked us!"

"Yeah, I did!" Celsius crossed his arms haughtily, refusing to back away from them. "Because I wanted to know t'e trut', alt'ough why I would ever come to you two looking for trut' I'll never know!"

Nicole rolled her eyes. "He's too lovesick to know what he's even saying."

Celsius blushed but looked slightly confused at the same time. "What's t'at mean?"

Nicole giggled. "See what I mean?" She nudged Bruce.

Bruce nodded. "It makes his brain move slower."

Celsius balled his fists. "Will you two just shut up?" He snapped.

Chill just backed away from them and found herself glaring at Mrs. McLaughlin, who was still trying to talk to Naliko. She was the teacher here; wasn't she supposed to stop the bullying and stuff Nicole and Bruce did?

Mrs. McLaughlin finished talking with Naliko and laid eyes on Bruce, Nicole, and Celsius. Nicole and Bruce had pushed Celsius to the ground and were shooting dark remarks at him. He was replying as fast as the insults were being thrown at him.

Chill wished she could thank him for taking so much for her, but she wasn't going anywhere near Bruce and Nicole. Nicole's words still stung.

Mrs. McLaughlin walked over and pushed Bruce and Nicole back, helping Celsius up. He wrenched his arm out of her grip, glaring at all three of them. Anger came off him in waves. "And where were you at?" He asked Mrs. McLaughlin.

"With Naliko," she answered, staring icily at Bruce and Nicole. "Now what is going on?"

"Not'ing, we were just trying to talk to Chill and t'en he jumped in and started yelling at us," Nicole said innocently. Chill's blood boiled. But she wouldn't tell on them. If Mrs. McLaughlin took their side already, then that meant she wasn't willing to look past the surface… and Chill wasn't about to give Nicole and Bruce the satisfaction of knowing they had gotten to her.

"You know what; I really don't care what you all were bickering about. Get inside, all of you, and play nice!" Mrs. McLaughlin waved her arms forward. "Go in!"

Nicole and Bruce rejoined with the male Thaumaturge child Celsius and Chill had seen with them earlier, and walked inside. Nicole whipped her hair again. Chill was the last person into the building, taking her seat next to Celsius and another female Thaumaturge she had forgotten the name of.

Celsius was a little sweaty from his confrontation with Nicole and Bruce, but otherwise looked fine. Chill zoned out the second Mrs. McLaughlin started talking, not even trying to pay attention. Nicole's words were bouncing around her head.

"_Your mom kicked t'e bucket t'e ot'er day, and I bet she's glad about it, too. I know I would be if you were _my_ daughter."_

Chill crossed her arms on her desk so her fists were out of view, and balled them. Her nails began digging into her skin, but she didn't care. Nicole had absolutely _no right _to have said that. Whoever said 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me' was a bold-faced liar.

"Chill!" Celsius hissed to her.

"What?" She looked up slowly, and saw everyone in the room staring at her, and Mrs. McLaughlin looked especially exasperated.

"Chill, have you been paying attention at all?" Mrs. McLaughlin asked, tapping her foot on the floor lightly.

Chill didn't answer; she only looked up at Mrs. McLaughlin guiltily. Mrs. McLaughlin sighed. "Who knows what I just asked?"

"I know," the female Thaumaturge on Chill's left piped up, sticking her hand straight in the air. "You asked if we remembered who Dissius was. Dissius is the Skylander person you were telling us about yesterday, right?"

She sounded bright and enthusiastic. Chill hadn't paid much attention to her before, and didn't even remember her name… Chill put her head down on her arms, looking up so she could still see the board, and she only vaguely paid attention to what Mrs. McLaughlin was talking about.

"That's right, Paola," Mrs. McLaughlin responded, turning back to the board. The picture of Dissius was still there.

Chill found the day to be excruciating to go through. She didn't want to think about Dissius, numbers, or even a book; she just wanted to get out of there. She didn't want to be in the same vicinity as Nicole, and she still hadn't managed to get a chance to talk with Celsius alone.

By the time the day was over, she was feeling at least ten times worse than she had in the morning. Multiplication was more than addition, right…? She hadn't paid much attention to that and still wasn't quite sure which was which.

Neither of her nor Celsius' parents were there as soon as the day ended, so Chill finally had a few moments to talk with him.

Outside the building, she pulled him to the side. He looked at her, smiling. "Hi, Chill! You okay? You've been acting weird all day. And normally, whenever Mrs. McLaughlin is talking about t'e old stuff you're always t'e one wit' t'e answers."

Old stuff. Celsius referred to history as 'old stuff'. She shook her head. "No, what Nicole said was just plain nasty… and I wanted to say I was sorry about yesterday," Chill muttered, sitting on the ground and crossing her arms, leaning on her knees.

"It's no big deal, really! Oh, and Paola!" Celsius suddenly called out Paola. She was talking with another child, who appeared to be around her own age. She jumped when she heard her name called. She had pale, baby-blue hair and bright ocean-blue eyes. The male Thaumaturge she was talking with looked like her polar opposite.

His hair was bright, striking green, and his eyes were the same shade of green, just duller. He stood at the same height with Paola, which was actually very short. They both looked at Celsius.

"Yes?" Paola asked.

"Come here, alone, please," Celsius asked her.

Paola nodded. "Okay, t'en. Klamo, look out for Mom and Dad, will you?" She asked the male Thaumaturge next to her.

"What do I look like, a watch tower?" He muttered, but shuffled off all the same.

Paola rolled her eyes at him and bounced over to Celsius. "Yeah?"

"Remember t'at dumb song Mrs. McLaughlin taught us last week to remember t'e names of t'e Nort'ern Regions?" Celsius laughed, poking her. "You know, to remember Salt Lake, Carson Isle, Boston, and Carolina?"

"Of course, who could forget?" Paola giggled. She then looked down at Chill, and then whispered something into Celsius' ear.

Chill didn't understand what was going on, but didn't care either. If they wanted to randomly talk about stupid things the teacher showed them at Silver School, let them.

"Chill, hey, watch t'is!" Celsius tapped her shoulder hard and then turned back to Paola. They leaned against each other, and began singing the song in unison. Chill could never identify individual words from the song; all she ever heard out of it was the names of the Northern Region Isles, Salt Lake, Carson Isle, Boston, Carolina, and then sometimes she could pick out some other random words like 'salty', 'cars', or 'cities'.

Chill couldn't help but giggle at how dumb they looked. "Okay, okay, enough," she laughed, getting to her feet.

"Enough what? You saying we don't sing well?" Celsius crossed his arms, feigning hurt. "Cold, Chill. Just cold."

"I heard about what happened lately," Paola murmured, looking straight at Chill. She then jumped up, clapping her hands together rowdily. Chill was a little overwhelmed by her overzealous personality. She stared at Chill, wild-eyed in excitement. "But still! We have more to learn here, t'en one day we'll be at t'e _academy_!" She said 'academy' in an earsplitting squeal. Chill found herself backing away.

"Heh, yeah, t'e academy," Celsius coughed, pulling at his shirt's collar, as though highly uncomfortable.

"But you know somet'ing cool—pun intended—about the Silver School?" Paola asked. She didn't even wait long enough for Chill or Celsius to nod their heads. "We'll all go t'ere toget'er and at t'e same time!"

Celsius backed up a bit, and coughed. "Yeah, right, of course. Er—hey, t'ere's my mom! See you bot' tomorrow! Chill, I'll try and come over later tonight!" He called to her as he ran over to Amika, who wasn't even finished walking down the street that led to the Silver School yet.

Chill blinked after him. "Sometimes he can be so weird," she murmured.

"Tell me about it! All guys can be like t'at!" Paola put way too much emphasis and expression into her words. She then went darting over to a pair of adult Thaumaturges who were already bracing the male Thaumaturge that had been with Paola earlier.

Chill looked away from them, feeling her eyes sting as the mother hugged Paola. She'd never be able to do that ever again. Never.

"Chill?"

Chill looked around and spotted her father a good ways away from the other adults and children. She walked silently over to him, not responding verbally.

"So, how was your day?" He asked her as he began leading her away.

"Alright," she lied.

"You sure?" He asked.

She wasn't in the mood for this. "It was alright," she repeated through gritted teeth.

"Okay," he sighed deeply, continuing to lead her away. That was the last time he tried to get her to talk to him on the walk home.

* * *

**If you are a fan of the story _Skylanders: Darkest Hour: Rise of the Dragon King _please check the poll on my profile!**


	7. Goldemy

_**Goldemy**_

"If you don't do somet'ing wit' her, she'll grow up independent and more irritable t'en a snow serpent!" Amika exclaimed. After her burst, she tried to regain her composure, straightening her hair and standing straight again. Ryan felt a flare of anger, but it died almost immediately.

"I don't want to force her to like me if she doesn't want to. I just want her to talk to me," Ryan said flatly. It was true. He didn't want to force Chill to do something she didn't want to do… Even if that meant cutting him out of the picture.

Amika chuckled a little and put her hand to her forehead. "I'll give you t'is… You've got heart. But you have to be prepared to give discipline, too. She disrespects you. You know how respect is seen in t'e castle and in t'e academy."

"Respect me?" Ryan echoed, sitting down on his couch. They were inside his house. It was quite late. Chill was in her room, asleep. He had checked to make sure. Amika had come over on her own accord. He hadn't called her over. But she said Celsius had been complaining about Chill's demeanor lately. Ryan looked up at her and smiled half-heartedly. "Respect me? Amika, nobody respects me anymore. I walk into t'at castle… I hear t'e whispers behind my back. I'm not as t'ick as you all like to believe. I don't t'ink anyone could respect me anymore of t'ey tried. And for what? Because my answer to everyt'ing isn't wielding a javelin or acting fierce in some way?" He shook his head. "If she doesn't want a t'ing to do wit' me, t'en she won't do anyt'ing wit' me."

"Ryan…" Amika sighed. "I don't want to force you to do anyt'ing, but t'is is insanity and you know t'at."

Oh sure, he knew respect was very important when it came to the hierarchy within the castle and the academy, in fact, it was one of the highest values taught there (along with individualism (which Ryan sometimes thought was nice way of saying racism), honesty, obedience, and responsibility).

Ryan shook his head again. "No. I know what I'm doing. I didn't even ask for you to come here. So, t'at leads to t'is question: What are you doing here?" He asked her, staring right at her.

"I was trying to help you preserve what was left of your relationship with Chill," she spoke softly, although Ryan was only too painfully aware of the venom hidden behind her words. "But it appears as you do not want my help. Unlike you, I guess I will respect t'at decision. For your sake, I hope you're accustomed to a lonely existence."

"May I ask, before you leave, why you say t'at?" He asked her, dumbfounded. Surely Chill wouldn't hate him… forever, would she? Sure, he had never really thought of his uncle the same way after how tactlessly he spoke of Ryan's father, but he didn't hate him forever… Then again, Ryan probably didn't have the ability to feel hatred.

"Because if you let her grow too independent and too hateful to you, she won't so much as blink in your direction. As she gets older, she might just start ignoring you completely. And all you'll hear from me is 'I told you so.' I remember how you were when your uncle, however tactless as he was, told you about your fat'er's deat'. You didn't talk to your uncle for a long time, and it was only three weeks before his own deat' t'at you openly forgave him. He did not do t'e right t'ing, and you're about to make a mistake just as big," Amika told him shortly, walking towards the door.

Ryan jumped up and slammed the door closed, refusing her access to it. He glared at her. She had hit a nerve. "Do_ please_ shut up!" He snapped, although keeping his voice down so he didn't wake Chill. "I did not ask for your two pints, and right now, I'd quite like it if you'd leave me and my daughter in peace."

Amika glared right back at him. "Open t'e door. I'd be glad to leave!"

He moved and she walked right out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Ryan felt the anger that he had felt subside quickly. He never could stay angry for very long. Even when he was angry, it came in short bursts, and dispersed quickly.

He paced back and forth for a long time. Was Amika right? Would Chill end up hating him forever…? Ryan shook his head. The thought put the fear of Kholi in him. He was almost trembling. He sat down on the couch and listened to that annoying, ticking clock… Tick, tock, tick, tock…

He was asleep before long.

* * *

_**Two years later.**_

* * *

"Open up, it's sector O-Seven!"

'Shut up, Celsius, you'll give t'em a fright!"

"You would keep harping on about t'at, wouldn't you, Paola?"

Chill rolled her eyes and opened the door. Chill laughed when she saw Celsius. He was in his suit—which was different from when he was younger, it was now silver and dark blue, and he did not have a helmet—which he was not supposed to be in. He did have an ice-spear with him and a rather small, average oriental shield.

Paola straightened her clothes. She was wearing an emerald-green skirt with a shirt that had green and white alternating stripes. She had a small, white bag slung over her shoulder with her suit and whatnot.

"What? You bot' keep looking at me like I've gone mad," Celsius asked, looking back between Chill and Paola, puzzled. But when Paola brushed against him as she walked into the house, he jumped, as though startled.

"Because you pretty much have! Mrs. McLaughlin said we weren't supposed to wear our suits to the academy, but regular clothes and just bring our suits and stuff in a bag!" Paola exclaimed, sounding irritable. "I'm really not a morning person. Can we hurry up? Ryan, you okay t'ere?"

Chill clenched her jaw automatically. She did not speak to her father that much anymore, not unless absolutely necessary. She had had to catch her tongue a few times before she spat nasty remarks at him too. Like earlier that morning, he had sat on that couch and stared at the floor like it had some interesting movie playing on it. Chill had been ready to say, _"If it's so interesting, t'en take a picture,"_ but she had thought better of it before she had opened her mouth.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Ryan murmured, getting up off the couch and smiling gently at Paola. He patted her on the shoulder, and looked at Celsius, obviously stifling laughter. "Celsius, where are your parents at?"

"T'ey had to go off earlier t'an usual t'is morning," he said, looking down at his suit. "I guess I messed up, didn't I?" He sounded dreadfully down, quite unlike how Chill usually heard him talk (which was normally with the corniest jokes you could think of!).

"And we're not even at t'e academy yet," Paola muttered in Chill's ear.

Chill ignored her and watched her father. She remembered painstakingly well how he had tried to cover up her mother's death. That being said, Chill did not think of her mother much anymore, either. She found that completely ignoring a feeling that caused pain or hurt could make the suffering less harmful… Or at least, throb less noticeably.

"We're early. Run home and change real quick," Ryan told Celsius, ushering him out the house. "Go on, now. We'll wait for you at t'e academy."

Though everybody called it 'the academy', it was actually the Goldemy Academy. Chill hadn't even learned this until she was almost ten, so she still found herself calling it just 'the academy' like everybody else.

"Alright, t'anks, Ryan!" Celsius grinned back up at Ryan. Chill felt uncomfortably hot under her clothes, which consisted of a solid, ocean-blue blouse. She too had a bag, albeit a green one, hanging over her shoulder. But an odd point jutted out the side due to her javelin inside it. Paola and Celsius seemed to get along with her father just fine… But Chill couldn't hardly talk to him without thinking of her mother, who would never come back, and never be seen ever again.

"_Stay cool!"_

Chill remembered her mother's 'catchphrase' quite well, too. She shouted after Celsius as he took off down the road, "Stay cool!"

Ryan gave a start of surprise, looking at Chill in a funny way, but she didn't respond to this action at all. They had to get to the academy, right?

"Come on, we have to get to t'e academy! I can't believe t'is! We're finally going!" Paola began screaming excitedly as they walked down from the house, Ryan following quite a distance behind them, allowing Chill and Paola to lead him rather than the other way around. "I mean, actual classes about battle styles, the darker history that McLaughlin never taught us, and—and—!"

"Paola, Paola!" Chill laughed, tapping her friend on the shoulder. "Yes, I'm going too, I know all t'is."

Paola was not at all any less excitable than she had been from the moment she and Celsius started to hang out with her. Chill was still quite unsure when Paola had been considered a 'best' friend. One day she was just sort of… there, you know?

"T'ere's also a class t'ere on our type of government and Honor Code," Ryan said quietly, catching up to Chill and Paola. They were up in the northern side of Carson Isle (as the Northern Regions was divided into four large islands: Carson Isle, Carolina, Salt Lake, and Boston) and this was much closer to the castle—and the academy—than Chill had ever been before.

"And here comes Celsius," Paola murmured a few minutes later as they walked around a line of tall, mostly sky blue houses (with the exceptional pale green one here and there). A great, golden and silver building loomed ahead of them.

The ground was still covered in snow, as you could expect it to be. In the Northern Regions, especially Carson Isle, snow didn't fall very often, but it stayed stuck to the ground whenever it did. So it could snow at two month intervals, and still leave two feet of the stuff on the ground.

The sky was a bit darker, as it wasn't exactly dawn yet. Many clouds were fluttering across the sky, though. A few, bright stars flashed here and there, not yet ready to go away for the day.

Ryan stepped ahead of them, his step becoming more brisk. "Stick close. Yes, we're only going to t'e academy, but I don't like some of t'e warriors t'ey have stationed around here."

_Paranoid, _Chill thought to herself. It was true. Her father seemed to get warier of his own comrades every time she saw him near them. Chill had no idea why. And, to be perfectly honest, she didn't really care.

Celsius came running up behind them, panting. He was in a silver shirt with dark gray shorts. He was carrying a small black bag. "So, heh, t'is is t'e academy…?" He looked up at the golden and silver building, and gulped. Chill furrowed her eyebrows at him. He suddenly sounded very small and insignificant.

Ryan stopped them once they got to the front of the building. The castle, which led to the Snow Queen and many other chambers and sector headquarters, was in the distance, but it wasn't all that far off. Chill knew, or, at least from some book she had read, that the academy had underground tunnels that connected directly to the castle.

In front of the school were a few other early thaumaturge children, but none of them had their parents with them. Chill only recognized Klamo, who was Paola's brother, among them. Chill silently willed Ryan to leave her there alone with Paola and Celsius, but a little voice in the back of her mind was telling her the truth. He wouldn't.

"Ryan! Not planning on standing t'ere all day, are you?" A female thaumaturge Chill did not recognize asked her father, walking up to him. She appeared older than he was (which he was thirty-two) and she carried a long, scary-looking icy sword at her side. She tapped him on the shoulder good-naturedly. "I'm sure Chill can handle herself, plus she's got Celsius, and he's always had her back," she told him. She had dark blue hair and sapphire-blue eyes. She laid her eyes back on Ryan. "Ryan," her voice went very serious, and she began whispering in his ear.

Maybe Chill had begun to forget due to being around her all the time, but Paola was extremely short for her age. She was barely three Cikls (basically, a human's version of 'feet'), with maybe an extra Icikl (a human's version of 'inches') or two on the side, but she was still incredibly small.

Paola slipped behind a group of two thaumaturge children talking to one another and was able to listen to Ryan and the woman without them noticing… well, at first.

"Paola," Ryan called to her calmly.

"Oh, snowballs!" Paola snapped her fingers angrily, knowing she'd been caught. She stood up and faced Ryan. "Yes?"

"Some t'ings are kept secret for a reason… And our reasoning is, you needn't hear what we're talking about," he said softly. He then turned back to the woman. "Yes, sir, Kliak!" He stood straight and as stiff as a board, saluting her with the V-shaped hand signal across his heart. His voice was very booming and loud as he said 'yes sir', which Chill tried not to laugh at because Kliak, or, this woman, was a girl, not a guy…

The V-shaped symbol was made by splitting the index and middle finger of the hand to create a V-shape. Then, you would place the V-shaped symbol on your right breast, or over your heart. It meant _voclu_, an ancient word that meant 'respect'.

Kliak nodded to Ryan respectfully, giving him the same salute, but not yelling anything as Ryan had. She turned and walked briskly away.

Ryan looked back over worriedly to Chill. "Be careful, alright? I'll only see you on weekends."

Part of Chill wanted to ignore him, but the way he said it made her feel quite uneasy. She nodded. "I know," she said shortly. "I'll be fine."

He looked stung by how little meaning she had put into the words she said. He sighed and tapped Celsius and Paola's shoulders. "See you all later," he said quietly, following Kliak away.

Paola nudged Chill on the shoulder. "Now t'at was mean."

"All I did was say I'd be fine," Chill defended herself.

"Exactly," Paola muttered.

"Oh, drop it, Paola," Celsius said. Chill blinked in surprise at him. What was his deal?

"Celsius? You okay?" She asked him.

He practically jumped out of his skin when some kid brushed against his back. He grabbed his bag and flew off the ground so fast all Chill saw was a blur. He looked at the thaumaturge that had brushed him and snapped, "Watch where you're going, why don't you?!"

"Okay…" The thaumaturge wasn't anyone Chill knew by name. He sort of gave Celsius a look that said 'I'm out of here' and went walking along, talking with some other thaumaturge at his side.

Chill tapped Celsius on the shoulder. He whirled to face her, looking very uncomfortable. "What's your deal?" She asked him. "You're jumpier t'an a snow hare!"

"I, erm…" He looked down, and then ran his hand down his hair and on his face. "I'm scared, Chill, to be completely honest. I've never really liked t'e t'ought of going to t'e academy. I've heard some pretty nasty t'ings about what can happen t'ere…"

"Like what?" Chill asked him, confused.

"Like, of t'aumaturges getting hurt in spars, or… you know t'ere are kids here t'at at fifteen and possibly older. What about t'em?" Chill couldn't believe she was hearing Celsius talk with so much discouragement and hesitation in her voice. She knocked on his head like a door.

"Hello, Celsius in t'ere?" She asked. "Everyt'ing's going to be fine. Just like you always tell me. See, sometimes I do listen!" She laughed, patting him on the back.

"I would hope so!" He laughed back, pushing her playfully.

"Ugh, why don't you two hook up and get it over wit' already?" Bruce said disgustedly as he and Nicole walked by. He had grown quite stockier in the past two years, and looked as though he'd been carved from an iron rock.

"I could ask you and Nicole t'e same t'ing," Celsius stuck his tongue out at Bruce, and Chill laughed at Bruce and Nicole's disgusted expression.

This year was getting off to a good start already!

* * *

**So, how are we liking Chill's demeanor? This one might be a little "off"-ish because I really have been trying to get into more of Rider's mindset to work for the big plot point that'll be hit on two other stories soon, etc, etc... But yeah. I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. And apparently Celsius never really wanted to go to Goldemy, but with the way the others talked about it, who can blame him for keeping his mouth shut about it? Ah. That's the reviewer's job, why am I sitting here practically reviewing my own story? Don't judge meeee! *runs away and then comes back* Oh, and enjoy!**


	8. Twenty Minutes? Come On!

_**Twenty Minutes? Come on!**_

* * *

Chill walked into Goldemy while being crowded by at least four hundred other kids. Okay, that was a huge exaggeration, but it felt like it. Celsius almost felt like he was glued to her side he was so close, and Paola was swamped by her short height beneath five other huge lunks.

"I am a person, not a doormat!" Paola shouted, shoving a green-haired boy off her. "Good Kholi, watch where you're going!" She yelled. By the time they had gotten inside, Paola had managed to carve a clear circle around her, as all the kids close by had realized that even though she was small, she could kick their butts as good as any bigger child could.

"Small, but feisty," Celsius joked weakly, trembling noticeably and sticking to Chill's side.

Chill looked forward. There were six full-grown thaumaturges giving out papers to the children. Each was calling out something. "First years!" A male with long, silver-blue hair called, waving his arm. The others were calling out "Second years!" or "T'ird years!" and so on, up until "Six years!"

"How many years do we spend here, exactly?" Paola asked, shoving one blue-haired girl who had been unfortunate enough to stumble in her way. "Like I said, watch where you're going!" Paola exclaimed hotly. "Do I look like a floorboard to you people?"

"You're short enough," Celsius laughed, although Chill was only too aware that he had not yet let go of her arm. "Come on, we have to go over to t'e first years."

"Do we have to?" Paola asked, her arms drooping. "I'm exhausted already. T'ese kids apparently t'ink I'm part of t'e walls or t'e floorboards. I've had to fight my way just t'rough t'e front doors!"

"T'en t'at will prepare you for gym," Nicole smirked, shoving Paola from behind to the floor. Paola's bag hit the ground and the contents splattered across the floor, her suit and weapon of choice (a small sword made from titice, a special blend of metal that made the material in question look like pure ice).

"Hey, keep your hands to yourself!" Chill spat, pushing Celsius off her and throwing Nicole to the ground. Paola jumped to her feet and pushed Chill back. "Paola, come on, let me at her!" Chill growled.

"No, I can handle her! Now you go get your papers and go to your room, already, Chill!" Paola glared at Chill. Chill gaped in shock. What? All Chill had been trying to do was help! "I can take her myself, now go away!"

"Hey, hey, hey! What is going on over here?" The man that had been calling out 'First years!' earlier stomped over, pushing them apart. "Why are you all fighting? And what are your names?"

"Chill," Chill growled, not taking her eyes off Paola.

"Paola," Paola grumbled, picking up her items.

"C-Celsius," Celsius sputtered, his face whiter than the snow outside.

"Nicole," Nicole spat, glaring between Chill and Paola.

"Well, Chill, Paola, Celsius, and Nicole, t'is had better not happen again," he began skimming through a huge stack of papers in his hands. "Chill," he handed Chill a slip of paper. "Celsius," he gave Celsius one next. Then Nicole and Paola, in that order. "On it is your room number and your class schedule. All goes into effect tomorrow. Today is just where we get settled and all—settling day. No more trouble from any of you! But could one of you tell me what was going on?"

"She shoved me to t'e ground t'en Chill stuck her nose where it doesn't belong," Paola hissed, throwing her bag over her shoulder.

Chill resisted the urge to throw her to the ground and join Nicole in torturing her. "You would say t'at," Chill said softly.

"Never mind, never mind, forget t'at I asked," the man waved them off. "Go now, you've already wasted enough of my time and yours." He turned back to the crowd of first-years around him, skimming through the stack of papers in his hands multiple times.

Once they were out of his earshot, Chill grabbed Paola by her shirt and shook her. "What is your problem? I was trying to help you!"

"Maybe I don't want your help!" Paola shoved her off. "And how about you keep your hands to yourself?" Paola shook herself, smoothing her shirt. "I can handle myself."

"Yeah, you sure handled it back t'ere!" Chill growled. "Nicole would have publically humiliated you."

"T'en I would have taken it! I don't need your help, Chill!" Paola snarled. She stomped away, looking at the paper in her hands.

Chill groaned frustratedly, looking around. They were in a hallway that had a few elevators in it as well as many rooms. Celsius held onto Chill's arm again, and she could feel him shaking. Chill wanted to shake him off, but felt that would be unkind. "Celsius, I hope you know t'at our roommates are going to be t'e same gender as us," Chill murmured, looking down at her paper.

* * *

_**CHILL CODAK**_

**Gender:** F

**Homeroom:** 144

**Dorm Room:** 24 (1st Floor)

**Roommate:** MINER, PAOLA

**Room Lock Number:** 34-22-07

_**Class Schedule**_

_**Even**_

**HISTORY – **SPRINGFIELD, LEWIS – _ROOM 144_

**MATHEMATICS –** CARSONA, HELEN – _ROOM 157_

**PHYSICAL EDUCATION / GYM – **DJINN, BARKLEY – _ROOM 23_

**LITERATURE – **TENMA, CARJIN – _ROOM 159_

_**Odd**_

**HISTORY – **SPRINGFIELD, LEWIS – _ROOM 144_

**MATHEMATICS –** CARSONA, HELEN – _ROOM 157_

**WEAPONRY & MACHINERY – **KELLSON, MARIANT – _ROOM 172_

**WILDLIFE – **GERVA, MARCELLE – _ROOM 160_

_**ALL CLASSES MUST BE ATTENDED TO ON FIRST DAY OF SCHOOLING (NOT SETTLING DAY). CLASSES WILL BE SHORTER THAN USUAL (45 MINUTES).**_

_**Settling Day:**_

Settling Day is the first day for students at the Goldemy Academy of any year. It allows the child to get situated and meet their teachers. The child does not have to do all of the following in any sort of allotted time period (except for of course meals and the ceremony) but they do have to make sure they complete all the tasks (except for Meeting Dr. Gale).

_**Meet Teachers**_

Students will meet and speak with every one of their teachers. Each talk shouldn't take but so long, maybe around five or ten minutes, depending on the subject in question. Teachers may give out handouts. Keep these papers!

_**Obtain a Goldemy Academy Map**_

Students will be expected to go to Mr. Blemmins on the first floor by the academy's opening doors to obtain a map of the Goldemy Academy. _**It is recommended this is done first.**_ It will allow students to pinpoint their classes so that they will not become lost. On the map, students will be expected to write their name, the date, dorm room, and homeroom.

_**Meet Dr. Gale**_

On the third floor, Dr. Gale, the Goldemy Academy principal, will be in Room 304 to meet students. He will only speak with five students at a time, so it is recommended this be one of the later things you do (though, remember that if everyone decides to do this objective last, then there will be quite the line). Due to the sketchiness of this method, a ceremony will be held after dinner, where Dr. Gale will talk in the gym over the intercom. THIS STEP IS NOT REQUIRED.

_**The Ceremony**_

After dinner, a ceremony will be held. It will introduce new students to the academy (first years, respectively) and explain the academy's hierarchy system, as well as the academy's core values. Dr. Gale will speak in case some have not managed to meet him.

_**The Cafeteria**_

In the cafeteria, there will be several instructors to inform students on cafeteria rules and regulations. Meals are served according to below:

**Breakfast:** 8:00-9:00

**Lunch:** 12:00-1:00

**Dinner:** 6:00-7:00

_**Important Destinations Directory:**_

**Main Office (Dr. Gale's Office):** Room 304

**Clinic:** Room 303

**Cafeteria:** Room 14

**Gym:** Room 23

* * *

Chill stopped walking and stared at where it said her roommate was Paola. She and Paola had just had a row. What fun it was going to be to walk towards the room, go in, and end up coming nose-to-nose with her.

She also wondered why the academy was called Goldemy Academy after reading through some of the details, and began to wonder how they even came up with the name… At least she wouldn't get too lost.

Celsius pulled out his and opened it up, showing it to Chill.

* * *

_**CELSIUS ROMARA**_

**Gender:** M

**Homeroom:** 144

**Dorm Room:** 85 (2nd Floor)

**Roommate:** JOHAN, BRUCE

**Room Lock Number:** 01-42-20

**Class Schedule**

_**Even**_

**HISTORY – **SPRINGFIELD, LEWIS – _ROOM 144_

**MATHEMATICS –** CARSONA, HELEN – _ROOM 157_

**PHYSICAL EDUCATION / GYM – **DJINN, BARKLEY – _ROOM 23_

**LITERATURE – **TENMA, CARJIN – _ROOM 159_

_**Odd**_

**HISTORY – **SPRINGFIELD, LEWIS – _ROOM 144_

**MATHEMATICS –** CARSONA, HELEN – _ROOM 157_

**WEAPONRY & MACHINERY – **KELLSON, MARIANT – _ROOM 172_

**WILDLIFE – **GERVA, MARCELLE – _ROOM 160_

_**ALL CLASSES MUST BE ATTENDED TO ON FIRST DAY OF SCHOOLING (NOT SETTLING DAY). CLASSES WILL BE SHORTER THAN USUAL (45 MINUTES).**_

_**Settling Day:**_

Settling Day is the first day for students at the Goldemy Academy of any year. It allows the child to get situated and meet their teachers. The child does not have to do all of the following in any sort of allotted time period (except for of course meals and the ceremony) but they do have to make sure they complete all the tasks (except for Meeting Dr. Gale).

_**Meet Teachers**_

Students will meet and speak with every one of their teachers. Each talk shouldn't take but so long, maybe around five or ten minutes, depending on the subject in question. Teachers may give out handouts. Keep these papers!

_**Obtain a Goldemy Academy Map**_

Students will be expected to go to Mr. Blemmins on the first floor by the academy's opening doors to obtain a map of the Goldemy Academy. _**It is recommended this is done first.**_ It will allow students to pinpoint their classes so that they will not become lost. On the map, students will be expected to write their name, the date, dorm room, and homeroom.

_**Meet Dr. Gale**_

On the third floor, Dr. Gale, the Goldemy Academy principal, will be in Room 304 to meet students. He will only speak with five students at a time, so it is recommended this be one of the later things you do (though, remember that if everyone decides to do this objective last, then there will be quite the line). Due to the sketchiness of this method, a ceremony will be held after dinner, where Dr. Gale will talk in the gym over the intercom. THIS STEP IS NOT REQUIRED.

_**The Ceremony**_

After dinner, a ceremony will be held. It will introduce new students to the academy (first years, respectively) and explain the academy's hierarchy system, as well as the academy's core values. Dr. Gale will speak in case some have not managed to meet him.

_**The Cafeteria**_

In the cafeteria, there will be several instructors to inform students on cafeteria rules and regulations. Meals are served according to below:

**Breakfast:** 8:00-9:00

**Lunch:** 12:00-1:00

**Dinner:** 6:00-7:00

_**Important Destinations Directory:**_

**Main Office (Dr. Gale's Office):** Room 304

**Clinic:** Room 303

**Cafeteria:** Room 14

**Gym:** Room 23

* * *

"Well, I certainly had rotten luck wit' my roommate," he grumbled. "At least we have all t'e same classes. I'm going to be stuck wit' Bruce."

"Hopefully t'is'll all blow over wit' Paola," Chill murmured, pointing on her sheet to where it said Paola was her roommate. "Anyways, I'm off. I t'ink you'd better go on too."

Celsius nodded, biting his lower lip. "I-I guess I better g-get going t'en, too…" He cautiously walked over to one of the many elevators, slipping inside one when it opened. The elevators were actually quite clunky, but to Chill, they were amazing. She had never really seen any piece of machinery other than a small home radio. How did that thing pick up music signals from Earth and play them back here, anyway? And how did elevators go up and down without falling?

Chill shook away the thoughts and walked along. Her room was on the first floor. She looked around the hallway. The ground was covered in a pale silver-blue carpet and the walls were white. Each door was gray with numbers on it. Twenty-one… twenty-two… twenty-three… twenty-four! Her room was on the right side of the hall.

She opened it and wasn't in the least bit surprised to find Paola sitting down in a chair and scowling down at her sheet. The room was okay. It looked quite similar to Chill's small bedroom back at her house.

The floor was still carpet, and the walls were still white (with a large, old, silver clock ticking away on the left-side wall), but there were two small beds in the room. They had silver and dark blue sheets and covers, and the baseboards were dark gray. There was one long dresser, a desk, and a corner shelf in the room. Each was sky-blue colored.

Paola sighed and looked up. "Hey…" She murmured.

"What?" Chill snapped. She hadn't gotten over how Paola had talked to her when she stood up for her against Nicole.

Paola flinched. "Sorry for what I said… I just don't like ot'ers fighting my battles. I can take care of myself."

Chill felt like pounding her head on a wall. Paola kept saying that, but did she really understand why Chill had stood up for her? She hadn't done it to make Paola look weak or to 'fight her battle for her', she had done it because she personally couldn't stand Nicole and wasn't about to sit back and let her pick on Paola. But there was no use trying to convince Paola anything of the sorts. She was _stubborn._

Chill nodded. "Never mind it. It's fine. What's your sheet say?"

* * *

_**PAOLA MINER**_

**Gender:** F

**Homeroom:** 144

**Dorm Room:** 24 (1nd Floor)

**Roommate:** CODAK, CHILL

**Room Lock Number:** 34-22-07

**Class Schedule**

_**Even**_

**HISTORY – **SPRINGFIELD, LEWIS – _ROOM 144_

**MATHEMATICS –** CARSONA, HELEN – _ROOM 157_

**PHYSICAL EDUCATION / GYM – **DJINN, BARKLEY – _ROOM 23_

**LITERATURE – **TENMA, CARJIN – _ROOM 159_

_**Odd**_

**HISTORY – **SPRINGFIELD, LEWIS – _ROOM 144_

**MATHEMATICS –** CARSONA, HELEN – _ROOM 157_

**WEAPONRY & MACHINERY – **KELLSON, MARIANT – _ROOM 172_

**WILDLIFE – **GERVA, MARCELLE – _ROOM 160_

_**ALL CLASSES MUST BE ATTENDED TO ON FIRST DAY OF SCHOOLING (NOT SETTLING DAY). CLASSES WILL BE SHORTER THAN USUAL (45 MINUTES).**_

_**Settling Day:**_

Settling Day is the first day for students at the Goldemy Academy of any year. It allows the child to get situated and meet their teachers. The child does not have to do all of the following in any sort of allotted time period (except for of course meals and the ceremony) but they do have to make sure they complete all the tasks (except for Meeting Dr. Gale).

_**Meet Teachers**_

Students will meet and speak with every one of their teachers. Each talk shouldn't take but so long, maybe around five or ten minutes, depending on the subject in question. Teachers may give out handouts. Keep these papers!

_**Obtain a Goldemy Academy Map**_

Students will be expected to go to Mr. Blemmins on the first floor by the academy's opening doors to obtain a map of the Goldemy Academy. _**It is recommended this is done first.**_ It will allow students to pinpoint their classes so that they will not become lost. On the map, students will be expected to write their name, the date, dorm room, and homeroom.

_**Meet Dr. Gale**_

On the third floor, Dr. Gale, the Goldemy Academy principal, will be in Room 304 to meet students. He will only speak with five students at a time, so it is recommended this be one of the later things you do (though, remember that if everyone decides to do this objective last, then there will be quite the line). Due to the sketchiness of this method, a ceremony will be held after dinner, where Dr. Gale will talk in the gym over the intercom. THIS STEP IS NOT REQUIRED.

_**The Ceremony**_

After dinner, a ceremony will be held. It will introduce new students to the academy (first years, respectively) and explain the academy's hierarchy system, as well as the academy's core values. Dr. Gale will speak in case some have not managed to meet him.

_**The Cafeteria**_

In the cafeteria, there will be several instructors to inform students on cafeteria rules and regulations. Meals are served according to below:

**Breakfast:** 8:00-9:00

**Lunch:** 12:00-1:00

**Dinner:** 6:00-7:00

_**Important Destinations Directory:**_

**Main Office (Dr. Gale's Office):** Room 304

**Clinic:** Room 303

**Cafeteria:** Room 14

**Gym:** Room 23

* * *

Chill nodded again after skimming the sheet. "Well, you, Celsius, and I all have t'e same classes. T'at's good," she grinned a little, dropping her bag on one of the beds and falling back onto it. "How long's it been since we got here?"

Paola blinked. "About twenty minutes."

"Twenty? How many more before today's over?"

"I'm not a calculator, Chill," Paola rolled her eyes. "More t'an numbers go up to, t'at's how many. And it's seven-forty-five. We should be getting ready to go to breakfast."

"But I t'ought Mrs. McLaughlin said numbers never end?" Chill asked, confused. "And I know."

"T'at was t'e joke, and you just ruined it," Paola shook her head, chuckling. "Anyways, who's Celsius' roommate?"

"Bruce," Chill curled her lip in disgust, and then softened her expression a little. "I hope he's okay. He was terrified out t'ere… Bruce had better leave him alone."

"I'm sure Celsius can handle himself," Paola murmured. "Anyways, don't we have to go and meet our teachers and all on settling day?"

"Meet our teachers, get a map of t'e academy, meet t'e principal, attend t'e ceremony at t'e end of t'e day, oh, and get acquainted wit' t'e cafeteria," Chill listed off everything, laughing a little. "Today's bound to be fun, huh?"

She snorted. "If you say so. T'is place has five hundred million rooms."

"T'ought numbers didn't go t'at high?" Chill smirked.

"And I t'ought Celsius made bad jokes," Paola laughed loudly. "See, now t'at was funny!"

"About as funny as fire," Chill grabbed Paola around the shoulders and gave her a noogie, making her hair stick out. While all thaumaturges were of the Water element and could easily put out a fire with ice walls or water, it wasn't the fire itself that thaumaturges feared. It was the smoke. From what Mrs. McLaughlin had told them, a thaumaturge's body just wasn't built to take in smoke, at all. Just a few breaths was enough to put a strong, fit, skilled warrior down for the count.

"Hey! I just brushed t'at!" She laughed, pushing Chill off and flattening her hair out, although Chill could still see tangles. "And I'll probably be getting enough of t'at from t'e older kids, I don't need you doing it, too."

"Doing what? Giving you a noogie? I was only kidding," Chill told her, taking out her suit and javelin and shield from her bag and spreading them across the bed, leaving Paola to fix her hair. "You know t'at."

"Of course I do, forget I said anyt'ing," she said quickly, turning to her own supplies.

"So, do we just leave whenever we're done setting our stuff here?" Chill asked.

"Yeah, I t'ink so. T'at's what t'e sheet says, anyway. Looks like we're going to be meeting Mr… Springfield first. After breakfast!"

"Weird name," Chill said.

"And Codak isn't?" Paola smirked.

"Miner isn't exactly a common name, eit'er," Chill stuck her tongue out at Paola.

"Well, let's go meet him," Paola murmured. "All we have to do is put our suits and stuff away. And I don't t'ink we should even do t'at, because we'll have to take our suits to Physical whatchamacallit and our weapons to Weaponry & Machinery."

"It's physical educat… education," Chill stuttered, pointing at the class run by Mr. or Mrs. D… De-jinn? How do you even say t'at?"

"Don't ask me, I can't even say edumacatamon-mon or whatever it is," Paola laughed.

"Edumatacamonmon? Geez, Paola, you're worse at English t'an I t'ought!" Chill giggled, leading her out the door. "Come on! Breakfast will be starting soon, and we still have to fight our way down to t'e cafeteria."

"Hooray," Paola grumbled.

* * *

**Okay, so this is going to be both fun and challenging... Whether I mean me or the characters is for you guys to decide. xD**


	9. First Daze A Pain

_**First Daze a Pain**_

* * *

"I t'ink we should get a map," Paola complained, shoving away two kids that were laughing and goofing off so much that they hadn't noticed they were beginning to practically trample on her. They gave her an inconvenienced look and she glared right back, daring them to say a thing. They didn't and moved along their way.

"If looks could kill, Paola," Chill began to joke, "you'd have murdered everyone in t'e academy by now."

"I'd say good riddance except for you and Celsius," she grumbled. "Apparently, I am a non-existent ghost or somet'ing. T'ey practically step on me!"

"Well…" Chill uneasily straightened her shirt. "Hey, t'ere's t'at guy who was giving us t'e papers. What was his name? Did he say it?"

"It's on t'e paper, Mr. Blemmins," Paola muttered.

They were back at the opening of the school. They had already eaten breakfast. It had now been two hours since they had gotten to Goldemy. There were catwalks and similar looking platforms high above their heads for the upper floors, and the ceiling was an ice-blue dome with a black center. Pictures of two thaumaturges, one male, the other female, were on it. One was giving the other an iced over fruit, though Chill was too far away to have any hope of seeing what it was.

* * *

_**Present Day, Citadel**_

* * *

Paola takes the paper from Chill's hands. "How do you remember t'is stuff? I just remember a fuzzy-looking white t'ing and two guys shoving me around. How do you remember exact dialogue? You've got t'e memory of a mammot'."

"'Course she does. Needed it to be the Snow Queen's guard and all," Celsius remarks, smiling goofily. Chill is painfully aware of the fact that for the most part his left ear is missing. And she also remembers far too clearly how he got the burn marks that stretch from his upper neck to his lower forearm.

Ryan gives an 'ahem' and steps forward. "Paola, leave her be, she has to finish it. Although, does anybody else want to write their point-of-view?"

Celsius immediately looks nervous, pulling at his shirt and fiddling with his greenish-blue hair. "Heh, I, uh, t'ink I'd rat'er not. Paola, you?"

"Meh, I don't remember much, but I guess I could tell Chill what I do remember and she can jog my memory since she's got t'e best memory ever," Paola rolled her eyes. "But not right now. I t'ink Chill should just continue on."

Chill grabs the paper from Paola's hands. "T'ank you, now please stop interrupting," she grumbles a little. "Spyro wants t'is dumb t'ing done. I'd like it done as quickly as possible. Stupid Book of Zeroes or whatever it is."

"Book of Heroes!" Paola jabs her in the side. Chill rolls her eyes and returns to her paper on the moltastel table Drobot and Eruptor has created for her. They had made it a few days ago, and Chill, Paola, Celsius, and Ryan are near the edge of the Citadel. They are right next to the tree that leans over the edge and licks the wind. The wind simply moves its branches around gently with every small breeze. She returns to her writing.

* * *

Chill moved forward, jostling around a few other kids as well. There weren't too many of them moving about, but it was enough to make moving irritating. Celsius was nowhere to be seen. Chill hadn't expected him to get there any quicker than them, but she was still worried. His roommate was Bruce, after all.

The ground was, surprisingly, gold and white. Chill knew very well it wasn't real gold—as if!—but it was still interesting.

The same six thaumaturges who had been yelling out years earlier were there, but now they weren't calling out anything. Instead, each was handing out maps. Chill went forward to one, the same silver-haired man she knew as 'Mr. Blemmins'.

Paola followed her up to him. "Hello, sir," Chill murmured. "Mr. Blemmins. We need a map," Chill said sheepishly, shy after he had broken up a fight between them and Nicole earlier.

"Here," he said, not even acknowledging her tone of voice. He gave one to Paola as well. "Now go meet your teachers."

"Down-to-t'e-point, isn't he?" Paola muttered under her breath as they walked away. Chill looked down at the map.

It looked more to her like an oversized square with a bunch of little squares in it with a bunch of little scribbles inside them. She blinked. "We're supposed to find our way to our classrooms using _t'is_?"

"Where's Room One-Forty-Four?" Paola asked, looking at her map upside down. "T'ey put t'eir fours on it backwards. Ha! And t'eir t'e teachers!"

"Paola, it's upside down," Chill told her, flipping her map rightside up. Paola giggled nervously. "Ha, right…"

Chill moved along across the golden and white floor. Room One-Forty-Four was on the first floor, but rather than down the left hall (which led to dorm rooms and elevators) they had to go down the right hall. The walls were still the same white color, but doors were plastered with papers that explained what class it was and who ran it. Most of the classrooms fell into a pattern—history, then math, then literature, and then wildlife.

Chill thought this was a good tactic to keep certain areas from being too overcrowded. But it didn't help any. As the minutes ticked on, and she and Paola neared Room One-Forty-Four, more and more children were crowding into the hall.

Once they reached Room One-Forty-Four, both girls were happy to see that there was only a handful of other children already there. The room was very, very organized. The floor was so clean it was nearly shimmering, and the desks were made of a silky, pale gray iron with a whitish marble top.

The walls were mint green colored, which Chill, surprisingly, found very complimentary of the pure white floor. The ceiling wasn't green, though. It was white, like the ground.

There were a few posters here and there. The front wall to the right of the entrance into the classroom had a blackboard with sticks of chuvil (a type of surprisingly soft, crystalized rock very similar to chalk) on the silver panel beneath it. It had 'Mr. Springfield' written on it in bold, whitish-blue letters.

The wall to the east of the blackboard was Mr. Springfield's desk. It too was neat and tidy. It was the same color as the desks, a pale, silvery gray, with the same marble-white top. A big, clunky-looking gadget stood on it. It was pretty big, and had a blue dark gray color to it. Chill had no idea what it could be, but it intrigued her all the same.

The papers on his desk were stacked nicely, and he had one fuzzy, gray 'picture' on it. Chill had heard of cameras. But she had never really seen one up close. She'd only seen, well, pictures of them that were fuzzy, and hard to make out. And even then, the camera in the picture looked large and uncomfortable to carry around.

The posters were also photographs, and so were also very fuzzy and also in black and white. Some were hand-drawn and had been laminated to keep them from getting destroyed due to age, but most were the fuzzy old pictures.

Mr. Springfield was speaking with two other kids, while five others were meandering around his classroom, looking down at papers in their hands. Chill and Paola moved over to Mr. Springfield. He looked nice enough. He had a thin, but strong build, and dark, navy-blue hair with silvery-white tips on the end. His eyes were a gentle green color, and he wore a white suit with darker silver highlights and trims here and there. He was holding some papers in his hands.

"…and of course, we'll go more in-depth of the reconstruction of the Northern Regions after we were wiped out. Silver School never goes to in-depth with that because they think it'll scare the younger ones," he was saying. "Balderdash, I say, but of course, t'at's not for me to decide. I personally t'ink it's quite t'e fascinating topic. So, I ask of you to keep t'is sheet—" he stopped when he noticed Chill and Paola. "Oh, hello t'ere! I am Mr. Springfield. You two are?"

"Paola," Paola muttered, sounding as though she didn't want to be there at all.

"Chill," Chill answered calmly.

"Well, first, let me give Frense and Flakely here their papers," he handed the two kids in front of him papers.

"Thanks," one of them said. Both were girls. She had bright, striking blue hair and slate-colored eyes. She had on a silver shirt and pants that had blue highlights the same shade of blue as her hair. She took one of the papers and stood by a desk, waiting for the other girl to get hers.

She looked the polar opposite of the one that had just taken a paper. She had pale blue hair and bright, indigo-colored eyes, with a darker gray shirt and a black pair of shorts on. The two girls walked to the edge of the classroom and began scanning their papers.

As Mr. Springfield began to talk to Chill and Paola, more children came into the room. Mr. Springfield was definitely interested in his work…. "You see, this year, we study the cataclysm that came after the reconstruction from when we were scattered across Skylands all those many, many, _many _years ago. I find it a very interesting subject. Not sure why t'ey refuse to teach it at the Silver School. Mrs. McLaughlin—bless her, been t'ere for so many years now—says t'e young ones wouldn't be able to handle how I teach it, but I beg to differ. It's not really that violent, it's simply the reconstruction of the kingdom…

"Well, anyway, we study that, as well as the sixth generation Skylanders. The first known Skylanders existed ten thousand and a half years ago, and those are known as the first generation Skylanders. The ones we will be studying existed during six-thousand-fifty-seven and beyond.

"Then of course we have two wars we need to study t'is year. T'e first is t'e war King Himalay started wit' t'e Elven Kingdom during our reconstruction—forgive me for saying, but I t'ink t'at was such a dimwitted move on his part while we were in such a vulnerable period—and the war wit' Dragon's Peak after his rule, led by Queen Frelez. Bah, I shouldn't be blabbing on, just take t'e sheet," he finished, realizing Chill and Paola's blank faces. Many other kids had gathered around to listen and were staring at him in almost the exact same way.

His face flushed slightly red and he handed out the papers, not saying a word more until some kids who hadn't heard his long speech came in and tried talking to him. Chill could hear restraint in his voice as he outlined what they'd be studying that year.

Paola nudged Chill gently to get her attention. "I t'ought he was going to talk our ears off! And t'e teachers tell _us _to be quiet!"

"Tell me about it. All I got out of that was Skylanders, King and Queen, and something about a construct," Chill murmured blankly. She sighed and looked down. "Look down at t'e sheet."

* * *

_**Present Day, Citadel**_

* * *

"Anybody have a copy of t'at dumb sheet he gave us?" Paola asks, interrupting Chill's writing. Chill pretty much face-desks and glares back up at her.

"Can you stay quiet for five seconds? I have a copy, it's old and has a few tears in it, but it'll work. Now, shush!" Chill pulls a crumpled paper from her bag at her side. It's faded yellow with age, and as Chill had stated, it did have some tears in it. Its words are slightly smudged, but Chill can still make it out.

"How and why did you save t'at all t'ese years?" Celsius inquires, practically gaping at the old sheet. "I would never have even remembered t'at t'ing existed! I just remember he was some goofball who mused on about wars and reconstruction."

"I didn't exactly plan to keep it. It was in a pack with a bunch of my old drawings and stuff I wanted to keep when I moved to t'e Citadel to join t'e Skylanders. I meant to go t'rough t'em, I just never got around to it," Chill answers, though she's losing her patience. "Please do be quiet, now, I'm trying to get as much of t'is dumb t'ing done as I can."

* * *

_**Welcome to Mr. Springfield's History Class!**_

**Mr. Springfield**

I was once a warrior like most, but after suffering a nearly fatal wound, I left the service to become a much less endangering helper of the Northern Regions—as a teacher at the Goldemy Academy. I love to carry on a conversation, and am a very lively teacher. So, you think History is boring, do you? Wait until you finish MY class!

**Topics Focused On This Year**

_Reconstruction_

—This is the period after the Northern Regions was lost to the drow during 5024. The land was reclaimed in 6051. The period between 6051 and 6090 are considered the Reconstruction period, which leads to the…

_First Frigid War_

—This is the war led by first known king after the Northern Regions was reclaimed in 6051, King Himalay. This brutal war lasted between the Elven Kingdom and the Northern Regions between 6094 and 7026. King Himalay ignited a fuse when a few lost elves stumbled onto the Northern Regions and, to send out a message, he had them executed. Taking it as an insult, the current royal pair of the Elven Kingdom declared war, which King Himalay happily accepted.

_Dragon's Peak War_

—This is the first and only war between Dragon's Peak and the Northern Regions. This war lasted from 7044 to 7050, and was led by Queen Frelez. Hawkthorn, the king of Dragon's Peak at the time, tried to avoid war, and so did Queen Frelez, but when a squadron of thaumaturges became shipwrecked in Dragon's Peak and were killed by a group of renegade dragons, Queen Frelez jumped into action.

_Sixth Generation Skylanders_

—This is the study of the Skylanders that existed during the sixth generation of the Skylanders. Led by Dark Steel and Portal Master Hogarth Celest Garmery, this was a period where there were many Skylanders—sixty-two, to be exact. These Skylanders lasted from 6003 to 6085 with the death of Hogarth and the naming of the new Skylanders leader (Felled Hedge).

The units are very long, and though they don't seem like much, they will take up the entire year. Trust me; we won't end up with extra time!

* * *

"Is t'at last sentence meant to cheer us up?" Paola asked, snorting. "Because I'm not feeling cheery at all."

Chill rolled her eyes. "Come on, we have to go meet… Miss Carsona (or Misses) now," she called, gesturing for Paola to follow her.

It was way easier said than done. The hall was now nearly packed to the brim with children moving up and down it. Chill saw a group of kids stop, and the entire hall became blocked and congested.

"Oh, come on!" Paola shouted crossly. "Move your big, fat, bubble butts out t'e way! I'm trying to get t'rough Settling Day without killing someone!"

Chill pricked her ears and tried to make out of the dull roar that was the result of many kids talking at once, what the kids who had stopped were saying…. She could hear them, but barely.

"Come on, give it back! I already said I'd give you what you wanted, now please give it back!"

"Not getting' not'ing, bag boy," a larger kid sneered. Chill didn't recognize him by name, but she did know that he hung around Bruce and Nicole a lot. She ground her teeth and glared at the stopped kids with anger burning in her chest. Who were they picking on _this _time?

"Give it back to him, Selzar, he's only a baby." Chill knew that voice was Bruce's. He was standing next to the larger lunk that had just spoken.

They both shoved whoever they were bullying against a wall, unblocking the heavily congested hall (many kids had been shouting at them to move, and some of them hadn't said it too nicely, and some had even resulted to profanity).

"I swear—"

"What is happening out here?" A very, very tall woman with dark gray hair and a thin, almost skeleton-like build came marching out of a classroom. Her piercing amber eyes rested on Bruce, his supporter, and whoever they were abusing (of which Chill could not see).

"Please make them stop!" The kid who was being tortured wailed.

The woman raised an interested brow and glared down at Bruce and his supporter. "Dr. Gale's office. Right now. Tell him Mrs. Kinster sent you. And I swear to Kholi's grave, if either of you do not go there, I will be sure to track you down. _First and last names, this instant!_"

"B-Bruce Johan…" Bruce stuttered, looking more shocked than Chill had ever seen him in her life. She grinned slyly, and Paola held up her hand for a high five. Chill gave her one.

"Gorge Crestfall," his supporter said, sputtering silently afterwards.

"Go. Go," Mrs. Kinster growled, taking a threatening step towards them. They both nodded vigorously and took off in the opposite direction, barely managing to dodge kids in their way.

Now Chill had a clear view of who it was. She didn't recognize him by name, but she had seen him at the Silver School before. He had long, shimmering, silver-blue hair in a ponytail and dark gray-blue eyes, giving him a bleary look. Chill fought her way through the crowded hall to get a better view of him, but she made sure to stay out of Mrs. Kinster's line of fire. Paola followed her.

"What're we doing, Chill? So what? Bruce and whatshisface were picking on someone, big deal, they do it all the time," Paola grumbled. "Come on, we have to meet Ms. Carsona."

"Shh, Paola," Chill hushed her, squinting at the boy.

He was wearing rather untidy gray and white clothes, and his shoes looked old and worn. He was carrying around a large, muddy-brown bag. His ponytail was gold colored. Mrs. Kinster sighed as she looked down at him. "Your name?"

"Z-Z-Zephallious C-Carshen, b-but m-m-many call m-me Zepha," he murmured almost so quietly Chill couldn't hear him. She could hardly understand him through his stammering. He was visibly shaking.

"Who's the teacher you were going to meet?" Mrs. Kinster asked.

"M-Ms. Carsona. I already met Mr. S-Springfield about thirty m-minutes ago, I was one of the f-f-first to his c-class… My d-dorm's room o-one, s-s-so…" He sank to the floor. "But I d-don't want to g-g-go an-nywhere r-right now," he said miserably, curling up into the fetal position.

Chill felt anger and hate surge through her. Bruce and Gorge had _no right _to do what they had done. None at all. What they had done was completely wrong. The kid didn't even want to get up!

* * *

_**Present Day, Citadel**_

* * *

Chill has to stop. She just has to. She can't continue on, talking about Zepha in the story… It simply brings back too many memories she can't stand. "I t'ink I'm done for today," Chill sets the skuvil (a pen made from natural resources like rock and tree bark) down she's writing with and stands up from the table, staring down at it with stinging eyes.

* * *

**I've been meaning to bring in Zepha for a while now, but just didn't know how to do it. It'll be explained later what they all meant at the bottom there. I didn't want to make this chapter too long. Yes, this does mean I am doing one chapter for each different teacher. Get over it, I'm too finicky about details of their character and all. ^^;**

**ERMAHGERD, I let everyone's accents slip a loooot in this one. I'll be editing it over the next few days. BTW, SWAP FORCE TOMORROW! I'm going to be up at the GameStop at like, 9 AM.**

**Store**** Manager: Can I help you...?**

**Me: Nope. **

**Store Manager: Sure?**

**Me: Yep. Just waiting for Swap Force.**

**Store Manager: ... Ok then ... *walks in***


	10. Wonder Why We Do

_**Wonder Why We Do**_

* * *

_**Since I fear I won't be able to put up chapter 29 to Dragon King today, which I was going to do for Air Elemental1023's birthday, I decided I'd put up the next chapter of Snow Quest just in case. Sorry, Air, tried! But apparently my fingers refused to write more than 2000 words for Drobot and then they wanted to do Snow Quest and a new story that won't be revealed for a while yet or posted... Anyways here!**_

* * *

Celsius was only just leaving Mr. Springfield's class. Talk about talkative! That guy didn't stop yapping, well, ever! He had just given a long, confusing, and yes, boring speech about some dude named King Himalay or something and he didn't sound to happy to be talking about him. Celsius shook his head. He hadn't been there for the first half of his speech and hadn't understood what he was ranting on about the guy for.

Celsius walked out into the hallway to find it a little crowded, but not too bad. He'd be heading to Mrs. Carsona's next.

As he walked, he thought about how his accomidations with Bruce would be. Bruce hadn't been there when he'd put up all his stuff, and he certainly hadn't stuck around to wait for him, so he had yet to learn Bruce's reaction.

Celsius flinched almost every time someone touched him. He had never liked being touched much, least so on his back or any lower. So when a group of rowdy, giggling girls started accidentally hitting him in his back multiple times, he found himself irritated and disturbed by it. He eventually pushed them a little bit so as to make them stop, but that only worked for a few minutes. So when he raised his voice and snapped at them, their reaction was more shock than anything.

Mrs. Carsona's room wasn't too far away. Celsius was glad to go into her room. It appeared more so as some secret sanctum rather than a classroom. There were desks and chairs, of course, but they weren't all that big, and looked rather old. The desks had aged, silver marble-tops, and the chairs were the uncomfortable, scratchy silver kind.

The floor was the same fair golden and bleached white tile. The walls were not decorated with placards, unlike Mr. Springfield's, which had had a plethora of them. The walls were a rich azure though, and they gave the room a calming effect, despite the calamity he knew math always caused.

Mrs. Carsona's own escritoire was marble-topped, and white as well, and had a most odd-looking apparatus on its surface. Celsius had heard Nexus, a thaumaturgen traveler from the Silver School (he'd left a year prior) speak of a new sort of technology known as 'putatrums', and that they were what made the school papers. He had never really seen one though.

There weren't too many other kids in her room either. But he was thrilled beyond speakable words when he saw that Chill and Paola were in there. He rushed over to them, where they were frowning over papers in their hands.

"Mrs. Carsona expects us to understand T'IS? Since when do letters and numbers go toget'er? Like, when?" Paola complained, putting her hands on her hips. "I've never seen a Z next to a two in all my ti-Celsius!" She turned and jumped when she saw him. Chill turned too.

Chill grinned and Celsius did too, feeling a little hot under his clothes (though he had no clue why). "Celsius! Where've you been?"

"Fighting hallways and girls," he muttered. It wasn't that far from the truth. "How did you two manage to get in here so much quicker t'an I did?"

"Because we're on t'e first floor and we just did," Paola answered, smirking at him and pointing at the teacher, who was standing in the corner of the class, speaking with four or so kids. "And you might want to go talk to Mrs. Persnickety-I mean, Mrs. Carsona-before she t'rows a tantrum or somet'ing because you're just standing t'ere talking to us."

"Right," he nodded. He started traipsing over to Mrs. Carsona, not fully wanting to really know her. While Mrs. McLaughlin had normally been a kind instructor, whenever she taught math, her demeanor had always switched to such an unambiguous personality it became stifling to stay in the same room with her (though they had never had much choice on the matter).

She turned her eyes on him. Mrs. Carsona had a thin build, but she wasn't very tall. Celsius, who was nearly four and a half feet, nearly reached her height (Paola always was looking out for excuses to take a bash at how much his height dwarfed her). She had thin, whitening, hoary hair, and her eyes were a dark, malachite color. She was wearing a shimmering pearly dress that end at her aquamarine shoes. Two children rushed away from her as he approached, one a scuffed and ragged boy and the other a taller, blue-haired girl. The boy looked oddly beaten, like he'd been in a fight, but he didn't ask him any questions as he rushed out long before Celsius could even identify his hair color.

"Hello, and what is your name?" Mrs. Carsona asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Celsius Romara," he responded, trying to stand up straight.

"Well, Celsius Romara, welcome to the Goldemy Academy. I will be your mathematics teacher this year. I am Helen Carsona. I was once a merchant around Salt Lake Isle, but I moved here after learning a bit about teaching from a place in the Frigid Castle. Here, take t'is sheet, it will tell you more about t'is class and tidbits here and t'ere about me," she pulled a paper quickly and accurately from a stack and handed it to Celsius. She repeated her actions to several other kids as they gathered around him.

Celsius took the sheet from her hand and began sauntering around the classroom, staring at the paper without much urgency. Chill and Paola rejoined him at his side.

* * *

_**Welcome to the Goldemy Academy Mathematics Class!**_

**Hello! My name is Mrs. Carsona.**

I have been teaching mathematics for about five years now, and before, I was a merchant in Salt Lake Isle (I was never trained to fight, much to everyone's shock) before I learned to teach. I have one child and live not too far from the Frigid Castle itself. This year, we will be learning about numillas and how to use putatrums to excel on our projects! I have a putatrum on my desk, and it is used to create 'documents' (the papers we give out to you are created with them!) for papers. It's easier. We will also look at integers, absolute value, OOO (Order of Operations, I have such a funny phrase for it!), and like I said, numillas.

**Putatrums**

Coming from the old Chokahtten (the old Northern Regions language before we agreed to use the larger known language in Skylands, Ohalamer) word 'putatra' which means 'device' and 'hastatrum' which means 'special', a putatrum can create basic documents where you can type words and numbers and other things onto a blank white sheet of paper and then print it out through the back. We may use this for projects later on.

**Integers**

Ever heard of negative numbers? I'm sure Mrs. McLaughlin mentioned it once or twice, but of course never explained it. Our unit on integers may contain a project! Integers show negative numbers and positive numbers and what happens when you add, subtract, multiply, and divide them.

**Absolute Value**

How many 'steps' is a number away from zero? We'll figure that out here! This will help with our Order of Operations (OOO!) lesson.

**OOO**

Order of Operations, or OOO, is a special order of operations used to determine a complicated problem's true answer. You might want to also remember **GEMDAS**, which stands for **G**rouping symbols, **E**xponents, **M**ultiplication, **D**ivision, **A**ddition, and **S**ubtraction. Multiplication and division are interchangeable as well as addition and subtraction, but we'll get into that later. Remember OOO though too, I'll let you know now that it does stand for Order of Operations, but I also have another saying for it!

**Numillas**

Also from a Chokahtten word, it comes from 'numill' (which means 'number') and 'kahllas' (which means 'varied'). Numillas are equations that involve exvients (coming from the Chokahtten word that means 'variable'), always in the form of an italicized letter (_a, b, c, etc..._). This won't make too much sense on paper, you'll have to hear me talk about it.

Well, I hope you have fun in my class, but learn a lot as well.

* * *

"Look at t'e bottom part about numillas," Paola pointed towards the bottom of the paper. "Numillas! Numbers and letters put together in numeric sentences. On what island does t'at make sense?"

Celsius partially wished for her to shut her jaws. He understood exactly what it was. numeric expressions were when letters were used as exvients, which meant they could be replaced with a specific letter disguised as a numeral for the expression in order for it to be comprehensible. Of course, she would not understand that, for she never paid any attention during the math parts of Mrs. McLaughlin's class. Period. He snorted. "You certainly wouldn't. You never pay attention to no-one!"

"And you do?" Chill asked, arching a brow. "I remember last year you sleeping t'rough one of her lessons, if I recall correctly."

Celsius' face flushed a little scarlet. "I was tired, okay?" Actually, it was because she was explaining something he already understood and had been bored out of his mind.

"Yeah, yeah," Paola rolled her eyes. "So, let's get going!"

"Hold on, I want to read t'is," Celsius griped. "Unlike you, I actually try to understand t'is stuff."

"So t'at's why you rushed off every time after school," Chill laughed a little. "You wanted to go home to do your homework!"

"Yeah, and so what if I did?" He raised his voice a little defiantly.

"If you are not going to read t'e sheet, leave t'e classroom so it does not become overly crowded. I just wanted to make t'at clear," Mrs. Carsona spoke loudly for everyone in the room to hear. Her eyesight was locked onto him, Paola, and Chill though, so he knew she actually was talking to them.

"See? What did I tell you? Mrs. Persnickety! Anyways, let's go, Celsius, you can read t'e paper later," Paola fussed, trying to drag him and Chill behind her. Celsius found it amusing, because she wasn't big nor strong enough to drag him anywhere, therefore, she just stayed in the same spot, tugging on his shirt. "Come on, you big lunk, let's get going!"

"Okay, okay," he laughed. "I'm coming, calm yourself."

Once they were back out in the hallway, Celsius groaned. _This again?_ He wasn't enjoying the whole hallway part of the deal.

"Closest next would be to head to literature," Chill explained over the clamor and racket of everyone shuffling about the corridor. Celsius felt like melting into a puddle on the floor. Today was going to be long and miserable if this kept up, even with Chill and Paola's company.

Chill's demeanor suddenly fluctuated to that of serious and introverted when she laid eyes on a young boy that looked bedraggled and aged beyond his years due to his rather mucky appearance. Celsius hadn't even noticed grabbing her arm and holding onto her like a scared child, and when he did, he scolded himself and let go, biting his tongue.

Paola nudged Chill. "Chill, just leave him be, t'e kid obviously doesn't want to be messed wit'."

The kid Chill had been staring at walked past them and briskly ahead, looking as though he wished he'd disappear into the walls. Chill sighed. "I know, but you saw what Bruce and whatshisface did to him! And in Mrs. Carsona's room, he was really jumpy."

So that was the kid that had rushed out of the room when he went to talk with Mrs. Carsona! Celsius looked over to him as he walked and turned quickly to a room on his left. Chill didn't even bother looking at the paper on the door to see what class it was. Paola cursed under her breath and walked in. Celsius paused and sighed with relief when he read the notice on the front of the door that read "MR. TENMA—LITERATURE."

Inside, Chill had walked up to the raggedy boy with a ponytail who was waiting his turn to speak with Mr. Tenma. Mr. Tenma had a rather bulky (but not fat!) build and he had pure blue eyes and dark, rain-cloud-colored hair. He wore a coat over a white shirt and he had dark gray pants on. He was too busy speaking with a green-haired boy and blue-haired girl to notice them.

"Hello," Chill said, making her way across the simplistic classroom towards him. The floor was the same color as any, and the desks were the same as Mr. Springfield's. The walls here were decorated with gray, nebulous photos and another putatrum on Mr. Tenma's shadow-colored desk.

The boy jumped and looked at Chill as though somebody had just shouted at him. He calmed down once he realized it was only her, but didn't warm up to her one bit. "What do you want?" He asked gruffly.

"Such a charmer. Chill, come on," Paola pulled on Chill's sleeve.

Chill shot her a glare that was enough to make her quiet, and spoke calmly to the boy. Celsius wondered why she was speaking in such a soft tone with him. It made him feel annoyed or agitated, though he had no idea why it would. After all, logistically, she had to have her reasons.

"Well, I saw what Bruce and his buddy did. We've had problems wit' t'em in t'e past. Trust me, t'ey're actually real sissies once you get to understanding t'em better. Are you in t'e same classes as us?" Chill put her schedule sheet out in front of him.

The boy looked up at Celsius and Paola a little suspiciously. "Who're t'ey?" He didn't answer Chill's earlier question, and sounded as though he honestly didn't care. Chill nudged them both, as though to answer him.

"Celsius," Celsius muttered. He wasn't really liking whoever this kid was.

"Poala." Paola's tone was enough to let Celsius know she wasn't enjoying it either.

"Zepha," the boy murmured. "My name's Zepha. And yes, my schedule's almost identical to yours," Zepha nodded towards Chill's schedule. "Nobody's wit' Mr. Tenma. I'd better go see him."

With that, Zepha ended their conversation and walked over to Mr. Tenma. Celsus was a little affronted by the way he said it. It was like he hated them and didn't want to speak with them at all. Celsius, Paola, and Chill joined to hear the teacher speak. Chill didn't seem bothered by his tone at all and purposely stood next to him. Zepha made a face at her and did his best to glue his arms as close to his sides as he could.

For once, Celsius wasn't really paying attention to the teacher. He was a little irritated by how softly and warmly Chill had spoken with Zepha, and though he knew it was nothing that he should be concerned over, he couldn't shake it from his thoughts. It just... nagged him for some reason. He wedged himself firmly between Chill and Zepha about halfway through Mr. Tenma's explanatory opening speech, and stayed there, sticking as close to Chill's side as he could without Mr. Tenma saying anything.

* * *

"There, I wrote in it," Celsius grumbles, handing Chill back the paper. "Since Paola wanted to be a whiner and Ryan didn't have any place in it and Ze-"

Ryan jabs him in the side and Celsius gives an, "Ow!" He looks up at the blue-eyed thaumaturge. He sighs. "I know, I'm sorry." Celsius automatically begins to feel guilty for being about to talk about Zepha in front of Chill. Ever since... then... she doesn't like to talk about him, and he knows it. He too remembers the incident, and is saddened by it deeply. Possibly more so than Chill for it was technically his fault what happened.

Chill takes the page and looks at it like it has a disease. "Paola, can you write t'e next part?"

Paola sighs too. "I guess."

Celsius turns to glare at her. "You wouldn't write t'is one, but you would t'e next part?!"

"Of course, because I know about all t'e little feelings you were having t'en about _him,_" Paola teases him, winking.

Chill simply sighs and looks down. "Can we just not talk about _him_?" She asks quietly.

"Of course," Celsius and Paola's voices intertwine.

* * *

**I'm obviously not a braniac, I fail at big words, apparently. Sorry Celsius, didn't make you sound smart 'nuff. Oh wells. Next chap we'll have Paola narrating what Mr. Tenma said. **

***Facepalms* and I fail at present tense. -.-**

**And Happy Birthday, Air Elemental!**


End file.
